
IillililllliilUIIltlllllllll 






iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiitiiiiiitiiniiiiiuiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiitiiiiHiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiniitiiiiiiiiiiiinuiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiuiii 
. illiJIIililllltillltitllltlllllllilllftlllilllllllilllllltllililllliiilfllillllillllllltiilillilililifllilliJIIIIIIillillllill 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 
ETbOS. 

i bap, 

Shelf^ASS 

l Mill) STATES OF AMERICA. 




ABBIE C. MORROW. 



The Old, Old Story 



OF THE 



HOLY CHILD, I 

TOLD AGAIN FOR THE CHILDREN. 






BY 

ABBIE C. MORROW, 

Editor of The Illustrator, and Word and Work. 

Author of "Bible Morning Glories," " The Work of Faith," "Muller's 

Life," " Sweet-smelling Myrrh, "' Christian Science, 

Falsely So-called," Etc., Etc. 



I write unto you, little children." — I John II: 13. 



" Blessed is he that readeth" — Rev. 1:3. 






M. W. KNAPP, 

Publisher of Gospel Literature. Office of the Revivalist, 

Cincinnati, Ohio. 



Copyright, 1900, by M. W. Knapp. 



1 



24^ 

r« HtaivED 

JAN 2 1901 

Co^n^t entry 

SECOND COPY 

l}etiv«r«d to 

0H0ER 0IVISI0N 
1-N ^ 1901 



.TV** 



THIS BOOK 

IS LOVINGLY DEDICATED 

TO OUR LITTLE TEN-YEAR-OLD DAUGHTER, 

MELVA ABBIE MORROW, 

WHO IS DAILY TEACHING US THE MEANING 

OF THE SAVIOR'S WORDS, 

"OF SUCH IS THE KINGDOM." 
— Matt, xix : 14. 



Contents. 

PAGE. 

I. Jesus the Babe, 7 

II. The Boy Jesus, 19 

III. Jesus and John the Baptist, 34 

IV. The Temptation of Jesus, 48 

V. Jesus Healing the Lunatic, 57 

VI. The Barren Fig-Tree, 64 

VII. Jesus Raising Jairus' Daughter, 82 

VIII. Feeding the Multitude, 90 

IX. The Transfiguration, 104 

X. The Prodigal Son, 115 

XI. The Raising of Lazarus, 124 

XII. The Foolish Virgins, 134 

XIII. The Betrayal of Judas, 144 

XIV. The Crucifixion, 160 

XV. The Resurrection, 173 

XVI. The Ascension, 180 

XVII. Peter in Prison, 187 

5 



Illustrations. 

Page 
( \ Morrow, Frontispiece. 

Sim ink Madonna, 7 

Tin 1 i 4 8 

HEALING 1: \nc, 57 

'I Hi , 64 

. I DAUGHTER OF Jairus, «, 82 

Christ Feeding hie Multitude, 90 

Tin. Iran nON, 104 

'in Prodigal Son, 115 

Tiii ig of Lazarus, 124 

Thk Foolish \ 134 

I'm \ 160 

Ihk Resurrection, 173 

1 uf. Ascension, 180 

187 

l Hi , 192 

6 




SISTINE MADONNA. 



The Old, Old Story of the 
Holy Child. 

Chapter I. 
JESUS THE BABE. 

THE story of Jesus is the sweetest that ever was told. 
The more we hear it, the better we love it. Though 
it is two thousand years since He came, the people who 
love Him to-day are as glad to hear about Him as were 
the shepherds, who were the first ones, after Joseph and 
Mary, to look into the little, new, sweet, baby face, and 
know that it was Jesus. 

An angel of the Lord came to Joseph one night and 
said that a little baby boy was to be born to Mary, and 
they must call His name Jesus, because Jesus means 
Savior, and He who was coming was to grow up and 
become the Savior of the world. 

Jesus' parents lived in Nazareth; but, years before, 
God had told the Prophet Micah that when Jesus came 
He would be born in Bethlehem. 

So one day the great Roman emperor, Caesar 

Augustus, guided by God, but not understanding what 

he was doing, ordered all the Jews to go to the town 

7 



8 Story ok Jesus. 

where they were horn, and enroll their names for the 
pa] menl of a tax. 

This is how it came to pass that Joseph and Mary 
were in Bethlehem when Jesus was born. They went 
there to enroll their names at the command of the em- 
peror, in the town of their ancestors; for Joseph and 
Mary were descendants of the great King David. 

When they reached Bethlehem, weary with the long 
journey, they found the inn filled with strangers, so 
were forced to go to the rude manger, where horses, 
mules, and camels were housed, and where the poorest 
peasants found shelter. Here, far from home, in the 
midst of strangers, in the chill of a winter night, in a 
place that was without comfort or privacy, the holy babe 
- born. 

All the way from the cradle to the cross there were 
those who rejected Jesus. 

Tie came unto His own, and His own received Him 
not. 

There was no room for Him in the inn. 

There was no room for Him in Bethlehem. Herod 
hunted Him out of it. 

There was no room for Him in Jerusalem. Even His 
parents did not understand His longing to be a temple 
student, and so, as a submissive lad, He went down 
to Nazareth with them. 

There was no room for Him in Nazareth. They 
thrust Him out of the city, and would have flung Him 



Jksus thr Babk. 9 

over the brow of the hill on to the sharp stones, only 
His hour to die had not come, so He escaped from them 
and went His way. 

There was no room for Him in the homes of those 
He served. Alone He slept under the stars in the Mount 
of Olives. 

There was no room for Him in the world. They 
crucified Him between two thieves, as if He had been 
the worst of the three. 

Make room in your home for Jesus. Do not force 
Him to the stable. Make room in your heart for Jesus. 
Do not let anything crowd Him out. 

How long the mother and the Holy Child Jesus were 
in the ill-smelling, uncomfortable manger we do not 
know, but it would seem that some one was human 
enough to give up their place to the young mother with 
her newborn babe, because we read of them afterward 
in "the house" at Bethlehem. (Matt, ii, n.) 

The night Jesus was born there were, in an open 
pasture field, about a mile from Bethlehem, some shep- 
herds watching their flock of sheep as usaul. The 
shepherds, wrapped in a cloak, slept on the ground on 
beds made of soft branches of trees, and guarded the 
sheep and lambs from danger. 

From this flock were taken the animals daily sacri- 
ficed in the temple at Jerusalem five miles away. 

Near this place, years before, Ruth, the wife of Boaz, 
had gleaned the sheaves, and near here David had led 



io Story <jv Jksus. 

his flocks and protected them from the lion and the 
bear. 

On this spot now is a grove of olive-trees, and a 
little, old, bare chapel, called ''The Angel of the Shep- 
herds," because here the angel of the Lord came to the 
shepherds the night that Jesus was born. The angel 
stood right beside them, and the glory of the Lord 
shone round about them, making the night brighter than 
any day the shepherds had ever seen, and they were 
sore afraid. And the angel said unto them: "Fear not: 
for, behold, I bring good tidings of great joy, which 
shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day 
in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord." 

The good tidings brought by the angels reminds me 
of the story of a little heathen girl in New Zealand, who 
was given to the missionaries. She was a bright child, 
and they sent her to England to school. It was all new, 
strange, and beautiful. In her old, heathen home there 
had been no pretty parlor, no neatly-laid dining-table, 
no fine pictures, no merry games, no pleasant stories 
about Jesus. 

Her schoolmates were fond of her, and they never 
tired of hearing her speak of her admiration for her 
surroundinj 

Soon she became a Christian. Then she was happier 
than ever. She looked upon the world with a new vision. 
Christmas was a day of delight. 



Jesus thk Babe. ii 

After a few years, she began to talk of going back 
to New Zealand. Her schoolmates said : 

"Why do you want to go back, now that you are 
used to England and its privileges? You have often 
spoken of your love for it. Your health could not be 
better. Think of the long voyage. Suppose you should 
be shipwrecked? Everybody in your land will have for- 
gotten you, and you may be killed and eaten by your 
own people. Stay with us, and forget all about your 
former country. Christmas is coming soon, and we will 
all have a good time together." 

The girl drew herself up, her eyes flashed, and she 
spoke with feeing: 

"What!" she said, "do you think I could keep the 
good news to myself? Now that I have learned of a 
new and beautiful way of living, do you suppose I could 
be happy and not tell my people of it? Jesus has for- 
given my sins ; I have peace and pardon ; do you think 
I could be content to hug all this to my own bosom, 
and leave my dear father and mother and brothers and 
sisters to perish for want of the knowledge? You say 
Christmas is coming; I will teach them the Christmas 
joy ; I would go if I had to swim across the ocean to get 
there. I want to go, and say, 'Dear ones, I bring you 
good news. Jesus Christ was born to be the Savior of 
the world. He lived to do good, then died on the cross 
that we may be saved/ Can you ask me to stay?" 



12 Story or Jksus. 

Docs not the story of this saved heathen girl make 

u feel as if you would like to lay away more pennies 

to send "the good tidings of great joy" to some other 

little heathen girl who has no lovely home, no Bible, 

no Sunday-school, and nobody to tell her about Jesus? 

But to return to the shepherds to whom the angel 
brought the message of the birth of Jesus. The angel 
told the shepherds how they would know, when they 
reached Bethlehem, that the babe they should see was 
Jesus. He said : 

"And this shall be a sign unto you: Ye shall find the 
babe, wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. " 

The sign of the Savior was a babe wrapped in a royal 
robe lying in a stable. 

There were two kinds of swaddling bands. One the 
ordinary bandages in which all babies were wrapped ; the 
other an outside coat, beautifully embroidered, used by 
the princes and the wealthy. Greek and Roman poetry 
has many allusions to these swaddling bands. The ordi- 
nary bandage would be no sign. The sign w r as to be in 
the contrast, a babe dressed in the "swaddling" garb of 
a King lying in a "manger" with the cattle. Jesus' no- 
bility as "King of the Jews" and His poverty as the 
Child of Mary the wife of the carpenter, were His cre- 
dentials. 

Xo doubt His mother, knowing by the word of the 
Holy Spirit that lie was to be the heir of David's royal 
line, provided the token. 



Jesus the Babe. 13 

When the angel stopped speaking to the shepherds, 
a great company of angels joined them, and the multitude 
of the heavenly host praised God, saying: 

"Glory to God in the highest; and on earth peace, 
good will toward men." 

There is a beautiful, white flower, the shape of a 
star, which is called "the star of Bethlehem." 

It is said that in one of the capital cities of the South- 
ern States is an ancient garden, and in this old garden 
is a long bed, where these words of the angels — "Glory 
to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will 
to men" — may be clearly read, outlined by the beauti- 
ful star of Bethlehem. No weeds are ever allowed to 
grow in this bed. The ground is carefully kept. 

This garden-bed makes me think of some lines the 
little ones used to sing in the children's meeting at a 
camp where I was one summer: 

" My heart is God's little garden, 

And the fruit I shall bear each day 
Are the things He shall see me doing, 
And the words He shall hear me say." 

How about your heart-garden? Are there flowers 
and fruit growing there for Jesus? 

Soon the angels went back to heaven, and the shep- 
herds said one to another : 

"Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this 
thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made 
known unto us." 



14 Story of Jesus. 

So they left their flock, and went and found Jesus 
lying in a manger, as the angel had said. 

When they had seen Him, they told Mary, the mother 
of Jesus, and those who were near, of the words of the 
angels, and all who heard wondered at the great things 
which had taken place. 

Then the shepherds returned to their flock, praising 
and glorifying God, just as the angels had done. 

I think you would like to have me tell you of a 
man I read about who praised God as soon as he was 
saved. 

He had been known as "Drunken John," for he was 
a bad man. But one night he went into a gospel meet- 
ing, and heard, for the first time, the story of Jesus. A 
man of God spoke to him kindly, and told him how God 
loved him. Drunken John believed that God did love 
him and Jesus did die for him, and his heart was melted. 
Down his dirty face the tears ran. By and by he re- 
ceived the Savior, and went, filled with joy and peace, 
to the cellar he called home. 

He told the story to his wife and son, but they, know- 
ing nothing about conversion, only said: 

"Drunk, as usual," and turned away. 

Then he said : "Sal, I 've been converted ; before we 
go to bed we must pray." 

At length his wife and son agreed to kneel; but when 
this man bent his knees for the first time in his life, he 
knew not what to say. 



Jesus the Babe. 15 

Soon he remembered how he had used to express 
his worldly joy in the old days, and catching up his hat, 
he swung it round his head, and shouted : 

"Hurrah for Jesus ;" another swing, and, "Hurrah 
for Jesus ;" still a third time, and again the words, "Hur- 
rah for Jesus." 

That was John's first offer of praise. But it went 
straight from his loving heart to the heart of his Father. 

The shepherds were not the only ones to whom the 
birth of Jesus was made known. There was a man in 
Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon, who was just and 
devout, waiting for the coming of Jesus. And it was 
revealed unto him by the Holy Spirit that he should 
not die before he had seen Jesus. One day he came into 
the temple led by the Spirit; and soon the parents of 
Jesus brought in the child, to give Him to the Lord, as 
parents sometimes do now. Then Simeon took Him up 
in his arms, and blessed God, and said : 

"Lord, now lettest Thou Thy servant depart in peace, 
according to Thy word: for mine eyes have seen Thy 
salvation, which Thou hast prepared before the face of 
all people ; a light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory 
of Thy people Israel." 

And Joseph and His mother wondered at those things 
which were spoken of Jesus. And Simeon blessed them, 
and said unto Mary, His mother : 

"Behold, this Child is set for the fall and rising 
again of many in Israel; and for a sign which shall be 



16 Story of Jesus. 

spoken against ; (yea, a sword shall pierce through thy 
own soul also,) that the thoughts of many hearts may 
be revealed." 

And there was one Anna, a prophetess, the daughter 
of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was a widow 
about eighty-four years old, who lived in the temple, 
and served God with fastings and prayers night and 
day. And she coming in at that instant, gave thanks, 
too, unto the Lord, and spake of Jesus to all them that 
looked for redemption in Jerusalem. 

Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem, of Judea, 
in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise 
men from the East to Jerusalem, saying : 

"Where is He that is born King of the Jews? for 
we have seen His star in the East, and are come to 
worship Him." 

When Herod, the king, had heard these things, he 
was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. And when 
he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the 
people together, he demanded of them where Christ 
should be born. And they said unto him : 

"In Bethlehem, of Judea ;" for thus it was written 
by the prophet. 

"And thou, Bethelehem, in the land of Judah, 
Art not the least among the princes of Judah : 
For out of thee shall come a governor, 
That shall rule my people Israel." 

Then Herod, when he had secretly called the wise 



Jksus thk Babe. 17 

men, inquired of them diligently what time the star ap- 
peared. 

And Herod sent the wise men to Bethlehem, and said, 
"Go and search diligently for the young Child; and 
when ye have found Him, bring me word again, that 
I may come and worship Him also." 

When the wise men had heard the king, they departed ; 
and, lo, the star, which they saw in the east, went be- 
fore them, till it came to Bethlehem and stood over where 
the young Child was. 

When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceed- 
ing great joy. 

And when they came into the house, they saw the 
young Child with Mary, His mother, and fell down and 
worshiped Him. 

And when they had opened their treasures, they gave 
Him gifts, gold, and frankincense, and myrrh. And be- 
ing warned of God in a dream that they should not go 
back to Herod, they went into their own country an- 
other way. And when they were gone, the angel of 
the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, and said : 

"Arise, and take the young Child and His mother, 
and flee into Egypt, and stay there until I bring thee 
word : for Herod will seek the young Child to destroy 
Him." 

When he arose, he took the young Child and His 
mother by night, and went into Egypt : and was there 
2 



*** Story of Jesus. 

until the death of Herod : that it might be fulfilled which 
was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, 
"Out of Egypt have I called my Son." 
Then Herod, when he saw he was mocked of the 
wise men, was very angry, and sent forth, and slew all 
the children that were in Bethlehem, and in all the 
coasts thereof, from two years old and under, accord- 
ing to the time which he had earnestly inquired of the 
wise men. Then was fulfilled that which was spoken 
by Jeremiah, the prophet, saying, 

" In Rama was there a voice heard, 

Lamentation, and weeping, and great mourning, 

Rachel weeping for her children, and would not be comforted 

Because they are are not." 

But when Herod was dead, behold, an angel of the 
Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, saying, 

"Arise, and take the young Child and His mother, 
and go into the land of Israel; for they are dead which 
sought the young Child's life." 

And he arose, and took the young Child and His 
mother, and came into the land of Israel. But when he 
heard that Archelaus did reign in Judea in place of his 
father Herod, he was afraid to go to Bethlehem; but 
being warned of God in a dream, they turned aside, and 
went into Galilee ; and they came and dwelt in their own 
city, called Nazareth; that it might be fulfilled which 
was spoken by the prophets: 

"He shall be called a Nazarine." 



Chapter II. 
THE BOY JESUS. 

WHEN Jesus' parents returned from the flight into 
Egypt, they went to their own home in Nazareth. 

One who has visited the Holy Land, and seen this 
town where Jesus lived, says : "The boy Jesus prepared 
Himself, amid a hallowed obscurity, for His mighty 
work on earth. His outward life was the life of all 
those of His age, station, and birth. He lived as lived 
the other children of peasants in that quiet town, and, in 
great measure, as they live now. 

"He who has seen the children of Nazareth in their 
long, red gowns, girded with a many-colored sash; he 
who has watched their merry games, and heard their 
ringing laughter as they wander about the hills of their 
little native vale, or play in bands on the hillside beside 
their sweet, abundant fountain, may think how Jesus 
looked and played when He, too, was a child. 

"And the traveler who has followed any of those 
children to their simple homes, and seen the scanty 
furniture, the plain, but sweet, wholesome food, the un- 
eventful, happy, patriarchal life, may form a vivid con- 
ception of the manner in which Jesus lived. 

19 



20 Story of Jesus. 

"Nothing can be plainer than those houses, with the 
doves sunning themselves on the white roofs, and the 
vines wreathing about them. 

"The sandals are taken off at the door; from the 
center of the room hangs a lamp, the only ornament; 
in some recess in the wall is the wooden chest, painted 
with bright colors, which contains the books or other 
possessions of the family; on a ledge that runs round 
the wall, within easy reach, are, neatly rolled up, the 
gay-colored quilts which serve as beds, and on the same 
ledge are ranged the earthen vessels for daily use; near 
the door stand the large, common water-jars of red clay, 
with a few twigs and green leaves, often of sweet shrubs, 
thrust into their orifices to keep the water cool. At 
meal-time a painted wooden stool is placed in the center 
of the room, a large tray is put upon it, and in the 
middle of the tray stands the dish of meat and rice, or 
stewed fruits, from which all help themselves in com- 
mon. Both before and after the meal the servant, or 
the youngest member of the family, pours water over 
the hands from a brazen ewer into a brass bowl. So 
quiet, so simple, so humble, so uneventful was the out- 
ward life of the family of Nazareth." 

Some years ago a good bishop prayed that God would 
show him what Jesus was like in His youth. He dreamed 
that he saw a poor carpenter working, and beside him 
a little Boy patiently picking up chips. Presently a 



Thk Boy JKSUS, 21 

maiden dressed in green called them to supper, and set 
bread and milk before them. 

The bishop seemed to be standing behind the door 
and watching them ; but the little Jesus spied him, and 
said to His father : 

"Why does that man stand there? Will he not come 
in and eat with us?" 

Just then the bishop awoke; but he had the answer 
to his prayer. 

He knew Jesus was humble, industrious, and patient 
because He was working as a carpenter. He knew He 
was thoughtful because He noticed the stranger. He 
knew He was kind because He wished to share His 
food. This he learned from his dream ; but we know 
much more than this about the boy Jesus from the 
Bible. 

There is one little sentence in the Book that tells 
us about Jesus from the time He was forty days old until 
He was twelve years old, and that is, 

"The Child grew, and waxed strong in spirit, filled 
with wisdom : and the grace of God was upon Him." 

A sweet verse in some ancient writings by holy men, 
called the Apocrypha, fits sweetly with this verse about 
Jesus. It is, 

"Hearken unto me, ye holy children, and bud forth 
as a rose growing by the brook of the field ; and give 
ye a sweet savor as frankincense, and flourish as a lily, 
and send forth a smell, and sing a song of praise/' 



22 Story of Jesus. 

There is one sweet story of Jesus at twelve years of 
age that will tell us exactly what kind of a little boy 
Jesus was. Here is the story as Luke gives it to us : 

Now His parents went to Jerusalem every year at 
the feast of the passover. 

And when He was twelve years old, they went up 
to Jerusalem after the custom of the feast. 

And when they had fulfilled the days, as they re- 
turned, the Child Jesus tarried behind in Jerusalem; and 
Joseph and His mother knew not of it. 

But they, supposing Him to have been in the com- 
pany, went a day's journey ; and they sought Him among 
their kinsfolk and acquaintance. 

And when they found Him not, they turned back 
again to Jerusalem, seeking Him. 

And it came to pass, that after three days they found 
Him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the doctors, 
both hearing them, and asking them questions. 

And all that heard Him were astonished at His under- 
standing and answers. 

And when they saw Him, they were amazed : and His 
mother said unto Him, "Son, why hast Thou thus dealt 
with us? behold, Thy father and I have sought Thee 
sorrowing." 

And He said unto them, "How is it that ye sought 
Me? wist ye not that I must be about My Father's 
business ?" 



The Boy Jksus. 23 

And they understood not the saying which He spake 
unto them. 

And He went down with them, and came to Nazareth, 
and was subject unto them. 

The one sentence about Jesus' early life and this one 
story of His boyhood reveal Him as our perfect ex- 
ample when a Child. He tells us to follow Him, and 
even little ones, if they believe on Him and love Him, 
may follow Him. 

In a city alley a crowd of boys were jeering a feeble, 
old man. They pinned upon his back a paper bearing 
the words, 

"Who'll bid for the old saint?" 

A child took the paper from the aged man's back, and 
spoke kindly to him. A rough boy caught the youthful 
protector, and shouted : 

"Hullo, sneak, you '11 get something for this," and be- 
gan tormenting him. A gentleman stopped him, and 
began talking to the lad. 

"Sir, do you know what made me do it?" the lad 
asked. 

"No; what was it?" 

"That old man, they calls 'Saint Willie/ he comes 
to our house to read to mother. He said to me, 'If ever 
your 're a-going to do anything, say to yourself, 'What 
would Jesus do?' and that 's what made me do it." 

Let us study the sentence and the story of the boy 
Jesus, and see how He lived, and follow His steps. 



24 Story of Jesus. 

t. Jesus was strong in spirit. Our sentence says, "The 
Child grew and waxed strong in spirit." The spirit is 
that part of us which loves God and good things. 

Plants grow when they have air and sunlight. Jesus 
grew because He trusted in the Holy Spirit, and prayed 
to God to keep Him, and was happy and sunny-tem- 
pered. 

2. Jesus was wise. We read that He grew in wisdom. 
Then He never missed His lessons at school ; He read 
good books ; I can not think of Jesus reading a dime 
novel, can you? 

He listened to the older ones as they talked about 
the things He did not understand. 

He committed to memory the Old Testament, the 
only part of the Bible that was written before He came. 

3. Jesus 7vas bred by God. The grace of God — that 
is, the loving favor of God — was upon Him. 

4. Jesus loved the house of God. When His parents 
missed Him, and went back to Jerusalem, they found 
Him in the temple. 

Tie was not out in the fields, watching a horse-race. 

He was not in a circus, looking at the dancers. 

He was not at a matinee, filling His young mind 
with that which would not help Him. 

He was not in a baseball field, betting as to who 
would win. 

He was not even enjoying an innocent game. 



The Boy Jesus. 25 

He was in the temple, the place of all places where 
His parents would be glad to find Him. 

It is not wrong for little ones to play, but Jesus had 
reached the age when a Jewish lad was called "a son 
of the law," and began to learn a trade, and could go 
to the feasts. 

When one has reached the age of twelve, one should 
begin to do only that which will help to make him great 
and noble. 

Children should always attend the Church service 
and the prayer-meeting. 

5. Jesiis loved the Bible. His parents found Him "sit- 
ting in the midst of the doctors, both hearing them, and 
asking them questions." 

As soon as Jesus could speak, His mother taught 
Him a verse of the law. As soon as He learned one 
text, He was taught another. Then a scroll, on which 
the verses were written, was placed in His hand, and He 
gradually came to know the letters and learned to read. 
Then He was sent to a synagogue school, where He was 
taught with twenty-five others. 

This is the way Jewish boys were educated, and Jesus 
was no exception. His boy life was just like boy life 
now, that He might be able to sympathize with children 
at home and at school. 

Through the study of the Holy Word He came to 
know of His high and glorious mission. 



26 Story of Jksus. 

We may never visit Jacob's well, or rest under the 
shadow of Olivet, nor tread the wellworn path of Bethany, 
but we may pore over the same Holy Scriptures which 
were Christ's constant companion. We may study the 
same prophecies, believe the same promises, obey the 
same precepts, and sing the same psalms. 

Some people say, "I do n't like to read the Old Testa- 
ment/' To remember that Jesus loved to read it will 
help you to love it. 

When Catherine Booth, the mother of the great Sal- 
vation Army, was a child of five, she would stand on 
a footstool at her mother's side and read from the sacred 
page. 

Before she was twelve years old she had read the 
Bible through eight times, from cover to cover. 

To the end of her life she had this same intense love 
for the Holy Bible, and her last gift to each member 
of her family was a Bible, into which, with great diffi- 
culty and in much pain, she traced her name and the 
words, 

"The last token of a mother's love." 

One dark, stormy night a missionary, wet and weary, 
stopped at a log-cabin in the woods. 

The place was cold, cheerless, and dirty. On a ragged 
bed lay a little girl, pale and suffering. She looked into 
his face, as he bent over her, with a smile that told him 
peace was in her heart. 



Thk Boy Jksus. 27 

From under her pillow peeped a New Testament. 
A Bible Society agent had left it in that desolate place. 

"Can you read it?" the missionary asked. 

"O yes." 

"Can you understand it?" 

"A great deal of it, sir. I see how Jesus came into 
the world to save sinners. He said, 'Suffer little chil- 
dren, and forbid them not to come unto Me : for of such 
is the kingdom of heaven' (Matt. xix,i4), and when I lie 
here in the dark, and can not sleep for pain, I think 
of that and am happy." 

6. Jesus was industrious. All that heard Him in the 
temple were astonished at His understanding and His 
answers to the questions. So we know He was an in- 
dustrious Boy in His studies and in His work. 

When Walter Scott was asked the secret of his won- 
derful fertility with his pen, he said : "I have always made 
it a rule never to be doing nothing." 

When the great Lord Nelson was asked a similar 
question, he said : "I have always been fifteen minutes 
before the time, and it has made a man of me." 

When General Booth's youngest son was only nine 
years of age, he would hurry home from school, learn 
his lessons quickly, and then, with Testaments and tracts, 
spend all his spare time upon the street trying to get 
the little boys to read and think about the Savior and 
give Him their hearts. 



28 Story of Jesus. 

"If I did not hold him in," said Mrs. Booth, "he would 
work himself quite ill all the time/ 1 

The true followers of Jesus in these days do not 
idle away the hours attending festivals, fairs, suppers, 
tableaux, and concerts in the churches. They love to 
sit at the feet of those who will teach them the Word 
of God and the way to glory. They love to do some- 
thing to help the poor, to brighten the slow hours of 
the sick, to comfort the sorrowful, to lead sinners to the 
Savior. 

7. Jesus zvas earnest. He said to His mother, "Wist 
ye not that I must be about My Father's business?" 
Jesus' whole life was earnest. His Father's business, 
His Father's glory, was always His first thought. Luke 
tells us, in the book of Acts, that "He went about doing 
good." (Acts x, 38.) 

A boy went into a store, and said to the store- 
keeper, "Do you want a boy to work for you ?" 

"No," said the man, "I have no such want." 

The boy looked disappointed— at least the man 
thought so— and he asked, "Can 't you get a place?" 

"I have asked at a good many places," said the boy. 
"A woman told me you had been after a boy, but it is 
not so, I find." 

"Do not be discouraged," said the man, in a friendly 
tone. 

"O no, sir," said the boy, cheerfully. "I still hope 



Thk Boy Jesus. 29 

on, because this is a big world, and I feci certain God 
has something for me to do in it. I am trying to find it." 

"Just so," said a gentleman who overheard the talk. 
"Come with me, my boy; I am in want of somebody 
like you." 

That little boy was in earnest, like Jesus. He did 
not wait for the place to come to him ; he went to look 
for the place, trusting in God. 

A lady, converted under Whitefield, prayed with her 
little daughter until the child grew happier in God's love 
even than she. In a transport of joy, the little one cried : 

"O mother, if all the world knew! I wish I could 
tell everybody ! Let me tell the neighbors !" 

"That would be useless," the mother said. 

But the child replied hopefully, "I think they would 
believe me. I must go and tell the shoemaker ; I think 
he would believe me." 

She went into his shop, and told, simply and earnestly, 
how she had been a sinner, and God had heard her 
mother's prayer, and saved her, and she was so happy 
she did not know how to tell it, and she wanted him 
to let the Savior forgive all his sins. 

The man burst into tears, and threw himself on his 
knees, and soon was himself happy in the love of God. 
The neighborhood was awakened, and in a few months 
fifty saved people were rejoicing in God as their Savior. 

8. Jesus was sorrowful. When Jesus tried to explain 



30 Story of Jesus. 

to His parents that He wished to stay in Jerusalem that 
He might prepare for His Father's work, we read, "They 
understood not the saying/' 

Jesus had come to the temple, and probably for the 
first time in his life, had seen them bring to the brazen 
altar the little, white, innocent lamb, and lay their^hands 
upon it in token that all their sins were transferred to 
it, and so forgiven, because the little lamb would be 
slain in their stead, and its blood sprinkled. 

Here in the temple it would seem there dawned upon 
Jesus something of the knowledge that He was to be 
the Savior of men, the Lamb of God. 

He thought His beautiful mother, who had perhaps 
explained to Him about His miraculous birth, would 
understand. But she did not. 

When we are sorrowful because people say we have 
done wrong, and we know we have not, let us think 
of Jesus and that we are suffering with Him. 

9. Jesus zi'as obedient. When He found His parents 
did not understand His intense desire to remain in the 
temple and become a student, He did not say, 

"Mamma, why can not I remain here in the Heavenly 
Father's work?" 

He did not burst into tears, and pain His mother 
by His grief. 

He did nut tease her to let Him remain a little while 
longer. 



The Boy Jksus. ji 

He did not pout and lag behind, and make them all 
unhappy. 

He went down cheerfully with His parents to the 
despised city of Nazareth, unknown and unhonored until 
He dwelt in it and gave it the luster of His holy life. 

"He humbled Himself." (Phil, ii, 8.) 

He left the student's place for the carpenter's bench. 
He exchanged the classroom for the shop. He turned 
from the holy temple to the lowly home. He left the 
happy talk for the homely task. He was obedient. 

A man who owned a shop once advertised for a 
boy to work in the shop, run errands, and make himself 
generally useful. 

In a few hours the shop was full of boys, little ones 
and big ones, all wanting the position. 

There were so many boys that he did not know which 
one to choose, so he sent them all home. The next 
morning he put this advertisement in the paper : 

"WANTED : A boy who obeys his mother." 

There were only two boys who came that day for 
the situation. 

Only two of all the crowd that could honestly say, 
"I obey my mother." 

Only two who were little followers of Jesus in obe- 
dience. Suppose you had been among those boys, would 
you have been among the crowd or among the two? 

A Christian merchant, who had risen from a poor 



32 Story of Jksus. 

boy to a high position, was asked to what, under God, 
he owed his success. He replied : 

"To prompt and steady obedience to my parents/' 

The child who is obedient to his parents will quickly 
come when they call, unquestioningly go where they are 
sent, faithfully do as they are bid, and cheerfully fulfill 
all their parents' desire. 

It is said that when Washington was sixteen years 
of age he determined to leave home and be a midship- 
man in the colonial navy. After he had sent off his 
trunk, and was bidding his mother good-bye, she wept 
so bitterly that he said to his Negro servant : 

"Bring back my trunk. I am not going to make 
my mother suffer so by leaving her." 

He remained at home to please his mother. This 
decision led him to become a surveyor and afterwards 
a soldier. 

It would seem that he owed his place among the 
greatest of men to this submission to his mother's wishes. 

There is a special promise in God's Word for chil- 
dren who obey their parents. The Fifth Command- 
ment is, 

"Honor thy father and thy mother : that thy days 
may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God 
giveth thee." (Ex. xx, 12.) 

When T. Adolphus Trollope was a little boy he was 
coming back one day from a ramble in the country with 



The Boy Jesus. 33 

his mother and some friends. As they were crossing 
some fields they came to a steep, grassy hill, down which 
Tom and a little playmate rand hand in hand. 

Suddenly his mother called out : "Stop, Tom." 

He stopped instantly right where he was, and so 
did his little friend, and when his mother and her friends 
came up and walked on, they found, a few feet in front 
of the place where the mother had told her boy to stop, 
a deep, open, unused well. 

The mother knew nothing of the well nor of her 
boy's danger, but God put it into her heart to stop him. 
The boy's prompt obedience saved his life and the life 
of his companion. 

Father and mother always know what is best. And 
children are always happy when they obey their parents. 
Here is a prayer for every one who would follow the 
Child Jesus in obedience : 

"O Holy Lord, content to fill 

In lowly home the lowliest place: 
Thy childhood's law a mother's will, 
Obedience meek, Thy brightest grace. 

Lead every child that bears Thy name, 
To walk in Thine own guileless way ; 

To dread the touch of sin and shame, 
And humbly, like Thyself, obey." 



Chapter III. 
JESUS AND JOHN THE BAPTIST. 

ONE of the greatest prophets that ever lived was 
John the Baptist, Jesus' cousin. John was just 
six months older than Jesus. He is called the forerunner 
of Jesus, because years before the prophet Isaiah had 
spoken these words, which referred to John and Jesus : 

"The voice of one crying in the wilderness, 
Prepare ye the way of the Lord, 
Make His paths straight. 
Every valley shall be filled, 

And every mountain and hill shall be brought low; 
And the crooked shall be made straight, 
And the rough ways shall be made smooth ; 
And all flesh shall see the salvation of God." 

John was a great preacher. Here is a little bit of 
one of his wonderful sermons to the great multitude 
of Pharisees and Sadducees, who came to be baptized by 
him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins : 

"O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to 
flee from the wrath to come? Bring forth, therefore, 
fruits worthy of repentance." 

True repentance is to be sorry for sin and to stop 
sinning. 

" Repentance is to leave 

The sin we loved before, 
And show that we in earnest grieve 
By doing so no more." 
34 



Jesus and John tiik BAPTIST. 

To say we are sorry for sin, and keep on sinning, is 

not repentance. If we truly repent, God helps us not 
do the same sin again. 

Allan had been playing with his cart in the yard ; but 
when mamma called "Allan," his small voice came from 
the back parlor. 

"What are you here for?" asked his mother, open- 
ing the door. Allan was standing in the corner with a 
sober look on his face. 

"Come out to your little cart," said his mother. 

"I 'se not been here long 'nuff," said the little boy.. 

"What are you here for?" asked his mother. 

"I punishing my ownself. I picked some green cur- 
rants, and they went into my mouth," said Allan. 

"O! when mother told you not to! Are you not 
sorry for disobeying mother?" 

"I am sorry, but sorry is not 'nuff; I punish me. I 
stay here a good while and thinks." 

Sorry, if it is only sorry, is not enough. Allan was 
right. 

I read a story once about two boys who stole some 
apples, but did not feel quite happy as they began to 
eat them. They had what they wanted, but there was 
such a mean feeling about it. 

Tommy said, "I 'm sorry we stole these apples ; they 
sort of choke me." 

Then Ned spoke up : "So am I ; and I 'm going to 
give them back, and never steal again." 



3 6 Story of Jesus. 

But Tommy had too much of what he called pride 
to give back the stolen apples. Ned went to the man, 
gave back the apples he had stolen, and asked to be 
forgiven. Then he went to God, whom he had wronged 
most, and was forgiven. 

Ned really repented. 

John the Baptist told the people when they re- 
pented of their sins they became good trees and bore 
good fruit. 

A Scotch woman sold liquor on the Lord's-day, when 
the law commanded that the saloons should be closed. 
In a meeting God spoke to her. She was saved. 

Then came the thought, "How can I earn my living? 
Can I give up the whisky ?" Reaching home, she went 
to the jar containing the liquor, and seizing it, said : 

"Jar! jar! you and I have kept company for twenty 
years ; but Christ has come in, and you must go out." 

She threw it in the street, dashing it to pieces. This 
was the first fruit of her repentance. 

But we must not think we can be good after we have 
repented without trusting Jesus. Trying to be good will 
not help us much unless we trust Jesus. 

Mrs. S. E. Levy tells about a little girl who was 
troubled with bad thoughts and stubborn wishes to have 
her own way. She felt sinful in God's sight, and wanted 
to repent. She thought repenting was trying to make 
and keep herself clean. But her trying made her little 
better. So at last she confessed her sins to God, and 



Jesus and John thh Baptist. 37 

asked Him to forgive her and help her do right Prom 
that time good thoughts and desires filled her heart and 
mind. 

When John had finished this great sermon about re- 
pentance, there were three different classes came to him, 
asking the 9ame question, "What shall we do?" 

First, the people came and said, "What shall we do?" 

John told the people to be generous. He said : "He 
that hath two coats, let him impart to him that hath 
none ; and he that hath meat, let him do likewise." 

John told the people if they had all they needed of 
anything, they should share with others. They who had 
two coats should give one to some one who had none, 
and they who had meat (food) should share with the 
hungry. 

This noon our little Melva, ten years old, offered 
to go without fruit for a week, that she might have the 
money it would cost to take some fruit and vegetables 
to the Harvest Festival to be held in the church next 
Lord's-day. 

I have read of a little girl, name Florence, who one 
day ran out of her home with a little, covered basket 
in her hand just as her papa drove up in his carriage. 

He called to her to jump into the carriage and take 
a ride with him. She looked at the empty seat beside 
her papa, and then at the basket, and said, brightly : 

"Thank you papa; but not to-day. I have a little 
errand for Jesus." 



3 s Story of Jesus. 

Her papa found she had in her basket a large orange 
and a piece of cake that she had saved from her dessert, 
to take to a poor, sick man who lived on cold potatoes 
and bread. 

"I thought it would be nice," said Florence, "to give 
him some of the good things." 

Her papa thought so, too, and putting his hand in 
his pocket, took out a crisp five dollar bill, and pinned 
it to the orange, and told Florence he would drive her 
to the sick man's house. You can imagine how much 
good the unselfish little girl's gifts did the poor man. 

After John had told the people what they were to 
do, the publicans asked, "What shall we do?" 

John told the publicans to be honest. He said to 
them, "Exact no more than is appointed you." 

A rich man promised to lend a poor widow $200 
to open a small store. In cashing the note which he 
had required her and her pastor to sign, he kept out 
for his interest for loaning the money. 

When the note became due, he received full payment. 
Then he asked the minister to tell him of other poor 
widows, whom he would be happy to help. 

"You help the widow? You have robbed her, and 
God will require it," exclaimed the minister. 

In a short time the man was attacked by disease and 
died. 

God says we are to lend, hoping for nothing again ; 
but this man not only exacted interest, and more interest 



Jesus and John tiik BAPTIST. 39 

than the law of the land allowed, but what was wor 
he, a rich man, exacted it of a poor widow. 

We think this dishonest, rich man was dreadful, but 
every selfish, greedy little child is on the way to such 
dishonesty. 

After John had told the publicans what they were 
to do, the soldiers said, "What shall we do?" And John 
told them three things : 

1. "Do violence to no man." 

John's word to the soldiers was, not to be rude, 
uncivil, or cruel to man or woman. Some of the horrors 
of war are the brutal attacks soldiers make upon un- 
armed men and innocent women. 

Cruelty is not possible to one who has trained him- 
self always to be pleasant, polite, and kind. 

2. "Neither accuse any falsely." Lying is always a 
mean sin ; but when we falsely accuse any one, we add 
the sin of stealing to that of falsehood. We should think 
we were very wicked if we stole a man's money, but the 
Bible says, 

"A good name is rather to be chosen than great 
riches." 

And Shakespeare says : 

"Who steals my purse steals trash: 
'Twas mine, 'tis his, and has been slave to thousands, 
But he who filches me of my good name, 
Robs me of that which not enriches him 
And makes me poor indeed.' ' 



40 Story of Jesus. 

Let us be careful how we steal from others their 
good name. 

3. "Be content with your wages. " The great Apostle 
Paul knew what it was to be contented. 

He said once : "I have learned, in whatsoever state 
I am, therein to be content. I know how to be abased, 
and I know also how to abound ; in everything and all 
things I have learned the secret both to be filled and 
to be hungry, both to abound and to be in want." 

The contented are happy when the purse is full and 
when the purse is empty ; they smile when the sun shines 
and when the clouds come ; they are sweet when cir- 
cumstances are favorable and when circumstances are 
unfavorable ; they rejoice when they have their friends 
and when they have to be alone ; they are pleased when 
they are commended and not displeased when they are ac- 
cused. 

Here is a parable on contentment I picked up some- 
where : A tiny, blue violet lay blossoming at the foot 
of a great oak-tree. One day the oak said to the violet : 

"Are you not ashamed of yourself, you little thing 
down there, when you see how small a space you fill, 
and how wide my branches are?" 

"No," said the violet, "we are both where God placed 
us ; and God has given us both something. He has 
given you strength, me sweetness ; and I offer Him back 
my fragrance, and am thankful." 



Jesus and John tiik Baptist. 41 

"Sweetness is all nonsense, " said the oak ; "a few 
days and you will die, and your grave will not lift the 
ground higher by a blade of grass. I hope to stand 
ages, and when I am cut down I shall be a ship to bear 
men over the sea, or a coffin to hold the dust of a prince. 
What is your lot to mine?" 

"But," said the violet, "I hope to die fragrantly, as 
I have lived. You must be cut down at last ; a few days 
or a few ages, my littleness or your largeness, it comes 
to the same thing. We are what God made us. We 
are where God placed us. God gave you strength ; God 
gave me sweetness." 

While John was preaching to the people and bap- 
tizing them, and they were wondering whether he were 
the promised Christ or not, he said to the multitude : 

"I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance ; 
but there cometh One mightier than I after me, whose 
shoes I am not worthy to bear, and the latchet of whose 
shoes I am not worthy to stoop down and unloose : He 
shall baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire : 
Whose fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly 
purge His floor, and will gather the wheat into His 
garner ; but the chaff He will burn with fire." 

Among those who came with the multitude to be 
baptized by John was this same Jesus of whom John 
had been speaking. 

The incident of Jesus baptized by John is one of the 
most beautiful in the Bible. 



42 Story of Jesus. 

This is the way it reads : 

Now it came to pass in those days when all the 
people were baptized that Jesus came from Nazareth of 
Galilee to Jordan unto John to be baptized of him. But 
John forbade him, saying, 

"I have need to be baptized of Thee, and comest 
Thou to me?" 

And Jesus answering, said unto him, "Suffer it to be 
so now ; for thus it becometh us to fulfill all righteous- 
ness. " Then he suffered Him, and Jesus was baptized 
of John in Jordan. 

And Jesus, when he was baptized, and praying, went 
straightway out of the water: and lo, the heavens were 
opened, and He saw the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit, 
descending in a bodily shape, like a dove, and lighting 
upon him : and lo, a voice from heaven, which said, 

"This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." 

Because Jesus came to earth as a man, to redeem 
men, He took the place of a sinner. 

And the great crowd on the Jordan banks, looking 
at Jesus as He went down into the water, thought He 
was a sinner just like the rest. Only John knew that 
He was Jesus. 

John felt that he was not worthy to baptize the pure, 
sweet Son of God, but Jesus said, "Thus it becometh us 
to fulfill all righteousness. " 

O the depth of the compassion and condescension 
of Jesus! 



Jesus and John thk Baptist. 43 

Jesus felt sin, not on His conscience, but in His sym- 
pathy with the sinner. 

A young man in court was asked by the judge why 
sentence should not be passed upon him for a crime he 
had committed. An old man arose with the criminal, 
and putting his arms around him, said : 

"Your honor, we have nothing to say; the verdict 
against us is just ; we only ask for mercy. " 

It was the criminal's father. In his grief he forgot 
himself; in his affection he identified himself with his 
son. 

He did not repent of his son's crime, but he felt the 
sin and the shame of it until it well nigh broke his heart. 

So Jesus bore our sin and our shame. Do you not 
love Him for it? 

And did you notice how, when Jesus was willing to 
take the place of the sinner, willing to make Himself 
one with sons of men, then it was that the voice from 
heaven declared that He was the beloved Son of God. 

At a great crisis during the battle of Antietam, a gen- 
eral sent his son into the hottest fire of battle. Only by 
a miracle could he return alive. The boy was faithful to 
the trust. He counted not his life dear unto him. He 
came back without having been shot or hurt. His face 
was black with powder and begrimed with smoke, but 
shining with the glory of a brave resolve. 

The old general choked back a sob as he saw him. 
Forgetting for a moment the din and the danger of the 



44 Story of Jesus. 

battle, he stretched out his hands. The two looked into 
each other's faces, their hands clasped. 

Then, as the father thought of the courage of the 
lad, his forgetfulness of self, ready to give his life for 
his country, he said softly, yet reverently, the words 
spoken by the God Father to the Divine Son, centuries 
before, "Thou art my beloved son, in whom I am well 
pleased." 

It is sweet to have the love and praise of an earthly 
father, but sweeter even than this is the consciousness 
that God is pleased with us. 

But this only comes to those who have given them- 
selves to God. 

Jesus was the Son of God. All those who believe 
that Jesus is the Christ, that He died for their sin, that 
He lives in heaven to intercede for them, and keep them 
from sinning, are born again, and so are children of God. 
Then God is their Father, and is pleased with them, 
and loves them. 

I read once of a college student, who was a bright 
young man and studious, but, by some foolish act, he 
lost the high place he had held in his class. 

His father was so disappointed, he scolded him, and 
the boy grew angry, and vowed he would not live at 
home any longer, and went away. But soon he came 
home again, and threw his arms around his father's 
neck, and cried out, 

"I am sorry ; forgive me." 






Jesus and John THE BAPTIST. 45 

The father's quick embrace and tender words removed 
the agony of guilt from his heart, and there was never 
after that an unkind word between them. 

Years passed; the young man went to the front as 
a soldier. He was promoted, until he became the col- 
onel of his regiment ; was wounded at Cxettysburg, and, 
sixteen days afterward, his father found him. Gangrene 
had set in. There was no hope. Life was nearly gone. 
In a feeble voice, he said, 

"Dear father, how glad I am to see you ! But I am 
almost gone, and I am afraid to die; you must tell me 
how." 

The father's heart was breaking, but this was no time 
for tears. 

The Holy Spirit said, "Remind him of the school 
incident." 

The father asked, "My son, you feel guilty?" 

"Yes ; that makes me afraid to die." 

"You want to be forgiven?" 

"Yes. Can I be?" 

"Certainly." 

"Make it plain, so I can get hold of it." 

"Do you remember the school incident, years ago?" 

"Yes; distinctly." 

"How you came back to the house, and, throwing 
your arms around my neck, asked me to forgive you?" 

"Yes." 



46 Story of Jesus. 

"What did I say?" 

"You said, 'I forgive you with my heart/ and kissed 



me. 



"Did you believe me?" 
"Certainly ; I never doubted your word." 
"Did that take away your sense of guilt?" 
"Yes." 
"All of it?" 
"Yes." 

"Were you happy at home after that?" 

"Yes ; it seemed to me more happy than ever before." 

"This is the thing for you to do now. Tell Jesus you 

are sorry, and ask Him to forgive you, just as simply 

as you did me. He says He will forgive, and you must 

take His word for it as you did mine." 

"Why, father, is that the way to be a Christian?" 
"I do n't know of any other." 
"That is plain. I can get hold of that." 
Much exhausted, the colonel turned his head upon 
his pillow to rest. The father sank into a chair, and gave 
way to a flow of tears, expecting soon to close his son's 
eyes in death. But this did not last long. A change 
came. 

"Father," the boy said, "do n't cry. Sing. It 's all 
right, I am happy; Jesus has forgiven me; I know He 
has, for He says He will, and I have taken His word 
for it, as I did yours. I am not afraid to die now, but 



Jesus and John thk Baptist. 47 

I don't think I shall; I feel the stirring of a new life 
within me. Sing, 

"'When I can read my title clear 
To mansions in the skies, 
I'll bid farewell to every fear 
And wipe my weeping eyes.' M 

As the father sang, the pulse beating as the death- 
rate began to lessen, the eyes to brighten, the face to 
glow with new blood, the voice to sound natural. The 
surgeon, coming in to watch the rapid progress of the 
dreaded gangrene, said, with great surprise : "Colonel, 
your pulse is wonderfully changed. What has hap- 
pened ?" 

"Father has shown me how to be a Christian, and I 
have done it. I am better; I am going to get well." 

And sure enough, the new life in his heart put new 
strength into his body, and he lived to be a useful, noble 
Christian. 



Chapter IV. 
THE TEMPTATION OF JESUS. 

A GREAT trial came to Jesus just after the descent of 
the Holy Spirit upon Him. For it was directly 
after the beautiful words of the Heavenly Father, that 
He was His beloved Son, that Jesus was led by the 
Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. 

In the pathless desert, where the wild beasts lived, 
and where He had no human companion, where there 
was neither bread nor water ; here, for forty days, Jesus 
did eat nothing, and was tempted of the devil. 

Jesus was kept from hunger during the forty days ; 
but at the end He was faint, He saw His hold on life 
was feeble, He felt as if He was dying. In this time 
of utter physical weakness, Satan came to Jesus with 
three separate, distinct temptations. 

First, Jesus was tempted to doubt God. Surely, if 
ever man seemed to have cause to doubt God's love or 
despair of God's help it was Jesus. A voice from heaven 
had said, "This is my beloved Son. ,, But it did not seem 
like it. God's beloved Son driven into the wilderness for 
forty days to be hungry and thirsty! to sleep on the 
bare ground under the cold stars ! to be without any of 
the necessaries of life! any change of clothing! any ap- 

' 48 




Choose ye this day whom ye will serve. 1 
THE TEMPTATION. 

(SCHEFFER.) 



Thk Temptation of Jbsus. 49 

plianccs of cleanliness! to be without any opportunity 
to worship in the synagogue! to be without any human 
comforts! to have for His companions the wild beasts 
of the desert ! and to be beset day after day by the arch 
enemy! Then it was that Satan came with his mean 
words, "It Thou be the Son of God, command that 
these stones be made bread." At first it seemed plausi- 
ble and lawful. There was no sin in wishing for bread, 
or wishing to make bread out of stones, if that had been 
the Father's will. 

But His Heavenly Father had sent Him into the 
wilderness, and it would be wrong to make bread for 
Himself, because it would be to doubt His Father's 
love by leaving the place of dependence upon His care; 
to doubt His Father's power, as the children of Israel 
did when they murmured in the wilderness, and said, 
"Can God furnish a table in the wilderness?" to doubt 
His Father's protection by an unlawful use of Divine 
power in His own behalf; to doubt His Father's Word, 
"Man doth not live by bread only, but by every word 
that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord." (Deut. 
viii, 3.) For forty days He had fed on that Word, and 
lived by it. He would still do without material bread. 
He would still wait His Father's command. 

Then Jesus was to be the great Teacher. The law 
commanded the prophets to live and teach. And we 
can not teach what we do not first live. 

Billy Bray, the powerful lay preacher, was a good 
4 



50 Story ok Jesus. 

illustration of this. In his sermon on temptations, he 
says : 

"Friends, last week I was diggin' my 'taturs. It was 
a poor yield; there was hardly a sound one in the lot. 
An' while I was adiggin', the devil comes an' says, 

" 'Billy, do you think your Father do love you?* 

" 'I should reckon He do/ I says. 

" 'Well, I do n't/ says the tempter. 'If your Father 
loved you, Billy Bray, lie 'd give you a pretty yield o' 
'taturs — and ever so many of 'em, and every one of 'em 
as big as your fist, for He could easy give you plenty. 
An' if He loved you He w r ould too/ 

"O' course I was n't going to let him talk o' my 
Father like that, so I turned on him. 

" Tray, sir/ says I, 'who may you be, comin' 
a-talkin' like this? I know you, sir, an' I know my 
Father too. And to think o' your sayin' He do n't love 
me. Why, I 've got your written character, and it do 
say you are a liar from the beginnin'. An' I am sorry 
to add that I used to have a personal acquaintance with 
you years since, and served you faithful as a poor 
wretch could, and all you gave me was rags to my back, 
and a wretched home, an an achin' head — an' no 
'taturs — an 1 the fear o' hell to finish with. An' here 's 
my dear Father in heaven. I Ve been a child of His 
near thirty years. And He 's given me a clean heart, 
and a soul full of joy, and a lovely suit o' white as '\\ 
never wear out, and He says He '11 make a king o' me 



Tin-; Temptation of Jesus, 51 

an' lie * 1 1 take me home to His palace to reign with 
Him forever. And now yon come a-talkin' like that.' 

''Bless 'ee, my dear friends, he went off in a minute 
and never said good-mornin\" 

Second, Jesus was tempted to presume upon God's 
goodness. Satan could not get Jesus to doubt God or 
to despair. Then, as some one suggests, Satan changed 
his tactics. He took Jesus to the holy city on the dizzy 
height of the rocky precipice on which the temple was 
built, and said something like this : 

"You trust God at all costs and under all circum- 
stances. Then cast yourself down, claim the psalmist's 
promise of angelic protection. Down in the temple 
courts are the crowds assembled for the sacrifice. Alight 
unharmed amidst them, claim their allegiance, manifest 
your Messiahship by a proof out of which they can 
not creep." 

It was a temptation to claim the Divine promise that 
the people might quickly acknowledge that He was 
King Jesus, and listen to His Word. But Jesus re- 
membered the words the devil omitted, "To keep thee 
in all thy ways" (Ps. xci, n), and saw that He had no 
warrant for faith in God except as He kept in the path 
of obedience to God. 

Again He foiled the enemy with the written Word, 
"Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God." 

If Satan can not shake our faith he will push us into 
fanaticism. If we will not distrust God's power, he will 



52 Story of Ji.srs. 

tempt us to demand evidence of it. If we will not doubt 
God, he will have us tempt Him. 

To peril one's life to rescue a fellow-being is to trust 
God ; to unnecessarily expose one's self to danger is to 
tempt God. 

Some years ago, Kate Shelly was given a gold 
medal by the Iowa Legislature for a brave venture 
through a fearful thunderstorm to save an express train 
from wreck. 

One night looking out of her window by the flashes 
of lightning she saw that the railroad bridge had been 
swept away. Just then a locomotive plunged into the 
abyss below. 

She lighted a lantern, and alone, amid the thunder, 
lightning, and storm, crept up a rocky steep, and with 
her clothes torn to rags and flesh lacerated, she reached 
the rails and crept out to the last tie of the fallen bridge, 
swung the lantern back and forth over the abyss, until 
she heard the faint voice of the engineer, who, though 
in the greatest peril, cried to her to go quickly and give 
the alarm to save the express train. 

She started for the nearest station, a mile away. 
She had to cross a high trestle bridge of five hundred 
feet in length. A gust of wind put out her lantern, 
which she threw away as she could not relight it. She 
crept along from tie t<> tie over the trestle', her way 
,; edited by (lashes of lightning. Crossing the bridge, she 



Thk Temptation o* Jksi 

hastened along the rails to the station, told her 

and fell in a dead faint at the station agent's feet. 

Help went quickly to the poor engineer's rescue, 
and telegrams flew up and down the line, saying the 
bridge was gone. While' Kate Shelly lay unconscious 
the express train rushed into the depot. When the 
passengers learned that they had escaped a horrible 
death, they gathered about the brave girl of sixteen, 
looked gratefully into her pale, unconscious face, and 
upon her torn, bleeding form. They lifted her tenderly, 
and washed away the blood and brought her back to 
consciousness. With many loving words of gratitude 
they gave her a purse of money as a loving expression 
of appreciation. 

In striking contrast to this heroic act is the follow- 
ing incident taken from a daily paper: 

"A party of men, women, and children returning 
from church at Eagle Furnace, Ohio, started to cross 
a long trestle on the railroad. When about midway 
they heard the' whistle of the evening mail train bearing 
down upon them at a high rate of speed. Some jumped, 
others were pushed into the waters of the swollen 
stream below. One woman became bewildered, was 
struck by the locomotive and killed. The others of the 
party were rescued after much exposure and many in- 
juries. " 

Kate Shelly, risking her life to rescue others, was 



54 Story of Jesus. 

heroic; the party risking life uncalled for, were pre- 
sumptuous. One trusted God, the others tempted him. 

Third, Jesus was tempted to shun the cross. 

Upon some exceeding high mountain, Jesus stood 
gazing out upon the world which was in the devil's 
keeping. Satan offered to give back all that Adam 
sold him when he sinned. Jesus had no army, no po- 
litical power, and at this time not a single disciple. 

Was there a short, easy, painless way to save men? 
Could He be the Redeemer, yet the accepted Messiah? 
By one act could He have the hearts of all men through 
all the ages ? Could He buy the world back from Satan 
without opposition, rejection, persecution, ignominy, 
sin-bearing, soul agony, and death? 

It w r as a most awful moment in the history of the 
world. But the Word of God conquered. The deceiver 
was exposed, and with a power that sent the devil from 
Him, Jesus said, "Get thee hence, Satan, for it is written, 
Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and Him only 
shalt thou serve." The temptation often comes to shun 
the cross, to choose Satan's way of plenty and pleasure, 
rather than God's way of poverty and pain. 

After Jesus had resisted all Satan's temptations, the 
devil left Him, and angels came and ministered unto 
Him. Did they bring Him clean water, fresh linen, 
W clothing, and nourishing food? or did they only 
revive His fainting body, and cheer His anguished soul, 
and comfort His drooping spirit, and set His face stead- 



The Temptation of jBSua 55 

fastly toward Calvary? We do not know. But we do 
know that the Son of God came that He might destr 

the' works of the devil, and that He was tempted in all 
points like as we are, that He might help us when we 
are tempted. 

To be tempted is to be tried and proved. It is no 
sin to be tempted ; it is a sin to enter into temptation. 
The sin is in yielding instead of enduring. 

One in school, Meg had a nice piece of candy, and 
two or three times took a taste when she thought her 
teacher was n't looking. But just as Meg was taking a 
big bite, the teacher looked straight at her, and instead 
of making her throw away the candy, said: 

"It is a great temptation, I know; but you don't 
have to." 

All the boys and girls looked around, and Meg felt 
so uncomfortable, and the words kept ringing in her 
ears, 

"You do n't have to," and she did not want an- 
other bite. 

We are tempted to do many things that are not 
always right ; but we do n't have to, because Jesus will 
help us not to, if we ask Him. 

One day, Lucy's mamma went for a ride, without 
taking her. Was n't the little girl tried? Mamma said, 

"Lucy, you can not go to-day; you must stay at 
home and be a good girl." 

What do you think Lucy did? Yoa say, perhaps 



56 Story of Jesus. 

she cried and said naughty words, or was saucy. No 
she had learned such things would do no good. When 
her mamma said anything, she meant it, and would 
not give up to her because of any naughty ways; so 
Lucy was sweet outside, but angry and unswcet in- 
side. 

When mamma had been gone some time, a little 
voice in her heart called her to be sorry. She felt a 
hurt in her heart because of her angry feelings toward 
her mamma. At night, she said, 
screamed in my heart, and then I was sorry." 

Then she threw her arms around her mamma, and 

cried, 

"Mamma, what can I do to be good inside?" 
Perhaps the one who is reading this is asking the 
same question that Lucy asked. 

I do not know what her mother told her, but I do 
know that if you open your heart, and let the' Holy 
Spirit come in, and then, if you trust Him, He will 
keep you good inside as well as quiet outside. 




HEALING THE LUNATIC. 
(DORE.) 



L 



Chapter V. 
JESUS HEALING THE LUNATIC. 

JESUS came to save men. One day He stood in 
the synagogue in Nazareth that He used to at- 
tend when He was a boy, and said : 

"The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He 
hath anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; 
He hath sent Me to heal the broken-hearted, to preach 
deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight 
to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised.'' 

Peter, preaching a sermon about Jesus, long after- 
ward, told the people, 

"God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy 
Spirit and with power: who went about doing good, 
and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for 
God was with Him. ,, 

Read the eighth chapter of Matthew, and see the 
different diseases spoken of there, and how it tells why 
Jesus healed. 

Some ladies were talking before a little girl as 
though it were strange for us to expect Jesus to heal 
us now. The little one looked up in surprise, and said, 

"Why, I thought that was what Jesus was for." 

Yes, that is why He lived and loved and suffered 

57 



58 Story of Jesus. 

and died, to make us well and keep us well in spirit, 
soul, and body. 

Jesus wrought many miracles. He restored the 
deaf, the dumb, the blind, the lame. 

He healed people of fevers and paralysis and 
leprosy and all manners of diseases. 

One of the most beautiful instances of His healing 
is that of a lunatic boy. 

This insane boy lost all control of himself, so that 
he used to fall down anywhere'. 

His disease was like what w r e call epilepsy. 

One day he fell into the fire, and would have burned 
to death if some one had not rescued him. 

Another time he fell into the water, and would 
have been drowned if he had not quickly been taken out. 

It was not safe to leave him alone a moment. He 
was a constant care and grief to his parents, as they 
feared he would surely one day be killed in some dread- 
ful way. 

His father heard of Jesus, and went to Him, and 
told Him about his boy. And Jesus rebuked the de- 
mon, and he departed out of him, and the child was 
cured from that very hour. 

How happy the little fellow was to be able to go 
to school, and to read the Bible, and to play with the 
other children ; and how he must have loved Jesus ! 

And I am so glad that Jesus is just as willing to 



Jbsus Heading thb Lunatic 






heal the sick today as He was when He lived on the 

earth. 

We know He is, because the Bible says, u Je$U8 

Christ the same, yesterday and to-day and forever," 
and because there are many, many people being healed 
in these days. 

In a paper called World-wide Missions is the story 
of a Japanese girl, eighteen years of age, who was 
beautifully healed in answer to the prayers of some 
missionaries. 

During the great distress early in the summer of 
1890, the missionaries were distributing rice in Japan 
to two or three hundred of the poor at their station. 

One mother who came for food told them that she 
had a mad daughter at home, who had been insane for 
a year. The missionaries w r ent to call upon the mother. 
It was a wretched, pagan home; one dark, miserable 
room — all the home they had for the mother, two 
sons, and this poor, mad girl ! The lunatic was kept 
in a cage, a sort of closet with bars. The spectacle 
was pitiful in the extreme. Yet the girl's face, notwith- 
standing its wildness, had something sweet and pa- 
thetic in its expression. She went from side to side 
of her cage, like a poor, wild animal, throwing herself, 
from time to time, against the bars, or trying to climb 
up on them. She was without clothing; for she would 
keep nothing about her, but occasionally a piece of 
matting, which she would draw around herself. 



60 Story ok Jksus. 

Sometimes she would become so violent that the 
police would have to be called in. The missionaries 
visited her at regular intervals during the day. What 
could be done? That one question pressed on them. 
They could not leave that poor, caged child — for she 
was little more — to a life in that dark, stifling closet. 
But this case brought out the fact that there were 
no asylums for the insane poor in Japan. The girl at 
last grew so violent she was taken to a hospital, where 
she became so much worse that they were obliged to 
tie her hands and feet. This caused her great suffer^ 
ing. She refused to eat, and was in danger of starva- 
tion. They took her back to her cage worse than 
when she left it. 

The missionaries had been praying for her all along 
but now felt that they must unitedly, in a definite way, 
commit her case to God; and so several of them went, 
one evening, to the wretched home, and joined in spe- 
cial prayer for the poor girl. 

Her condition was apparently hopeless. There was 
her miserable abode, her mother ignorant of God— 
with a vacant, wild look in her eye' — and her crazed 
daughter peering through the bars, throwing at the 
missionaries all she could find in her cage. Yet, hope- 
less as it all seemed, that strange, beautiful love of 
Christ seemed welling up in their hearts for that girl, 
as though He were yearning over her, wanting to 
bless her, wanting to show how He loved her. At 



Jksts Hkaun(; thk Lunatic. 61 

length it seemed that she read their loving thoughts 

in some undefined way ; for she looked at them a few 
moments inquiringly, wonderingly. Then she let one 
of them stroke her arm and speak soothingly to her. 
Then, suddenly, the wild look came back again. She 
seized the lady's hand with a grasp of iron, so that with 
difficulty she drew it away. Then they sat down, and 
read to the mother from the New Testament, how 
Jesus healed those possessed with evil spirits, and told 
her that He had the same power now, and would hear 
if they prayed for her daughter. The missionaries did 
this in very simple words, which she could understand. 
Before leaving, they sang, 

"Jesus, Lover of my soul, 

Let me to thy bosom fly." 

At once the mad girl became quiet. She stood still, 
listening. They felt sure that she could be helped 
with the right treatment, such as is now given to the 
insane. Her response to the little' they could do to 
soothe and win her proved it. 

The next day the mother came to the relief sta- 
tion, and said that her daughter had slept nearly all 
night. The week following she continued to improve, 
and wished to knit. She talked about the "Jesus 
people," and wished them to come again. 

They went again to her. Then she sent her love 
to Miss R , and said she would come to see her, 



62 Story of Jesus. 

but the lady "must put her name on the door," so she 
might know it. 

The mother ceased receiving aid; for her son was 
now able to support her. However, favorable ac- 
counts were heard from the family from time to time, 
till one day word came to the missionaries, "The crazy 
girl is well!" They visited her, and returned rejoicing, 
having seen her clothed and in her right mind. 

They found her at the door in exhuberant health, 
with a brilliant color and expression. They thought 
she was a stranger. They were surprised ; for they did 
not recognize her. No trace remained of that poor, 
wan face and suffering eyes. It was hard to believe 
that she was the once caged lunatic. As soon as she 
caught sight of them, such a look of love and pleas- 
ure came over her face ! She arose at once', and pros- 
trated herself to the floor again and again. She poured 
forth her thanks, and then her mother and brother came 
forward and joined with her in thanksgiving, and said 
that it was God who had healed her; for she began to 
recover after that prayer and song. 

The missionary told them it was to God they owed 
their thanks. It was a joy to use this experience' as 
an appeal to them to make Him their God. 

It was this girl's case that made Dr. Thwing, of 
Brooklyn, see the need of free asylums for the insane! 
in Japan, and led him to give a lecture on the sub- 



Jesus Healing the Lunatic, 63 

ject at Tokio, July 1, 1890, which resulted in the set- 
ting on foot a movement for that end. While the mis- 
sionaries were waiting and hoping for such an asylum 
for one poor child, the merciful Lord undertook her 
case Himself, and set her free. 



Thk Barren Fig-Trek. 65 

Whatever be thy longing or thy need, 

That do thou give : 
So shall thy soul be fed, and thou, indeed, 

Shalt truly live." 



The Bible says a good deal about fruit. It tells 
us that the fruit of our lips is praise; that the fruit 
of our substance is gifts ; that the fruit of our serv- 
ice is souls born into the kingdom; that "the fruit of 
the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, 
goodness, faith, meekness, temperance." 

Love is the fruit, and there are eight varieties. 

1. Joy. — Joy is Love Rejoicing. One day, in a Paris 
court, a pretty girl, poorly but neatly clad, was brought 
up on a charge of vagrancy. 

"Does any one claim you?" asked the magistrate. 

"Ah, my good sir," said she; "I have no longer 
friends. My father and mother are dead. I have only 
one brother, James ; but he is almost as young as I am. 
O sir, what can he do for me?" 

"The court must send you to the house of correc- 
tion." 

"Here I am, sister — here I am. Do not fear !" cried 
a childish voice from the other end of the court. 

And, at the same instant, a little boy with a lovely 
face started from amid the' crowd, and stood before 
the judge. 

"Who are you?" said he. 

"James Rome, the brother of this little girl." 
5 



66 Story of Jksus. 

"Your age?" 

"Thirteen." 

"What do you want?" 

"I come to claim my sister Lucille. " 

"But have you the means of taking care of her?" 

"Yesterday I had not, but now I have. Do n't be 
afraid, Lucille." 

"O, how good you are, James !" 

"Well, let us see, boy," said the magistrate. "The 
court is disposed to do all it can for your sister; but 
you must give us some explanation." 

"About a fortnight ago," said the boy, "my mother 
died of a bad cough. We were in great trouble. Then 
I said to myself, 'I will learn a trade; I will support 
my sister/ I went to a brushmaker. Every day I 
used to carry her half of my dinner, and at night I 
took her to my room, and she slept in my bed while I 
slept on the floor. But it appears she had not enough 
to eat. One day she begged on the street, and was 
taken up. When I heard that, I said to myself: 

" 'Come, my boy, things can't last so. You must 
find something better/ 

"I found a place where I am lodged, fed, and clothed, 
and have twenty francs a month. I have also found 
a good woman who, for these twenty francs, will take 
care of Lucille, and teach her needlework. I claim my 
sister." 

"My boy," said the judge, "your conduct is very 



The Barrkn Fk;-Trkk. 67 

honorable. However, your sister can not be set at 
liberty till to-morrow/' 

"Never mind, Lucille," said the boy; "I will come 
and fetch you to-morrow." Then, turning to the magis- 
trate, he said, "I may kiss her, may I not, sir?" 

He threw himself into the arms of his sister, and 
both were filled with joy as they thought of being to- 
gether once more. 

2. Peace. — Peace is Love Reposing. An express train 
was rushing on one day at frightful speed, carrying war 
dispatches. It hurried round the curves with a velocity 
that threatened to hurl it from the track. 

The passengers were frightened, all of them, but 
one little girl, who sat all alone in perfect peace. 

At last the train stopped. A gentleman, the engi- 
neer, came through the cars, and bent over the child, 
and said, 

"Were not you afraid?" 

"O no, papa ; I was not afraid when you were run- 
ning the train," she said. 

The Bible tells us perfect love casts out all fear. 
Surely the story of this sweet child teaches us that 
peace is love reposing. 

3. Longsuffering. — Longsuffering is Love Tried and 
True. In the Woodward Garden, at San Francisco, was a 
lion so wild and fierce that it was dangerous to go near 
him ; but the superintendent, by persistent kindness, won 
the love of the noble beast, so that he could go into 



68 Story of Jesus. 

his cage, and drop down beside him, and the lion would 
raise his head to give him a soft place on which to 
lie. 

One day, a drunken sailor struck at the superintend- 
ent. The lion roared so fearfully, and dashed so fran- 
tically against his cage, that the man ran away fright- 
ened. 

At length, the lion had a tumor. A difficult opera- 
tion had to be performed, but no one dared even to 
approach the lion except the superintendent. The phy- 
sicians drew a diagram of the operation, showing him 
where to cut. 

With fear he entered the cage with his implements; 
for the lion was restless with pain. He followed the 
medical directions, talking soothingly to the noble 
beast. The lion let him cut, and bore the knife bravely, 
and licked his hand gratefully when it was over. But 
the operation only afforded temporary relief, and the 
lion suffered so much it was decided he must be killed. 

The superintendent took his revolver, and, after 
petting the animal, put the muzzle close to his head, 
and fired one shot. The lion made no resistance, but 
gave his keeper a pathetic look, in which there was 
no anger, only surprise and reproach. Three times the 
man was obliged to fire, but the poor beast only looked 
at him with a sad, beseeching, perplexed look, and so 
he died. 



Tiik Rarrkn Fic.-Trkk. 69 

As we read how a love which was only human 
could so tame and quiet and absorb a beast of the 
field, let us resolve that infinite love shall fill our hearts 
and lives, so that, when we are tried, we may be true. 

4. Gentleness. — Gentleness is Love Yielding. There is a 
story of a little girl whom they called the Princess be- 
cause she was so loving and sunny about the house. One 
day she was going to have a party, and she said to her 
sister: 

"I do n't want Mamie Price at my party, an' I ain't 
going to have her." 

"But you must, Princess, dear; for Mamie is our 
cousin, and it would never do to have a party without 
asking her." 

"But it 's my party, an' I ought to have a right to 
Vite anybody I like." 

Lulu glanced up from the new book she was read- 
ing, and, placing her hand upon her little sister's shoul- 
der, said, "Mamie does n't always act naughty, and 
I 'm sure she would never dream of leaving you out 
if she was to have a party." 

"But I never did horrid things to her dolls !" per- 
sisted Princess. 

"And that 's just why you ought to be good to her," 
said Lulu ; "for do n't you remember what mamma 
read to us last Sunday, that we should love our ene- 
mies, and do good even to those who were bad to us? 



/o Story of Jesus. 

This is just what it meant, I guess, and I think she 
would say it 's just a nice chance to do what the Bible 
tells us to." 

"Well, then, she '11 make eight, and Minnie Lee and 
Flossie Bates will be ten. That 's all I want," said 
Princess, as she ran across the room in answer to 
mamma's call. 

She had resolved to do what was right. She yielded, 
and instantly she became the same loving, sunny little 
girl that had won from her friends the title of Princess. 

Whenever we think of the Princess, let us remem- 
ber that gentleness is love yielding. 

5. Goodness. — Goodness is Love Holy. Somebody has 
written a story of a poor dressmaker who had this love. 
Here is the story : 

A little orphan girl lived with her grandmother. 
They were very poor, but neat and tidy. Perhaps I 
should say they were' rich in one thing: they had a 
Bible; and in the Bible they found God a tried Friend; 
they found Jesus Christ a precious Savior; they found 
a beautiful garment, holiness ; a beautiful ornament, 
a meek and quiet spirit ; a house not made with hands, 
heaven. So the old grandmother and the little girl 
were not so poor after all. They were richer by far 
than people with plenty of money who had not found 
these. The little girl's name was Sarah Martin. 

When Sarah was old enough, she had to earn her 
living. As she was too delicate to do hard work, her 



Thk Barren Fic-Tkkk. 71 

grandmother thought she had better learn dressmak- 
ing. For this purpose she had to go to Yarmouth, 
a town three miles from the village where they lived. 
She used to walk in to town in the morning, and out 
home at night. Was n't she afraid ? Sarah was so sweet- 
tempered and good, I am sure nobody would harm her ; 
and, then, she put her trust in God, and knew He would 
take care of her. By and by she began to earn a shill- 
ing a day by pretty diligent sewing, and was thankful 
for it. 

The court used to hold its sittings at Yarmouth. 
One day a woman was going to be tried for cruelly 
beating her little child. Awful stories were told about 
her, and everybody's blood curdled at hearing them. 
She was lodged in the jail. Sarah used to pass the jail 
going to and from her work. She, as well as every- 
body else, looked up to it as they passed, thinking of 
the cruel creature in it. 

Did Sarah hate her? Almost everybody did, judg- 
ing by their talk. Did she despise her, call her "hor- 
rid," "awful," and all the hard names she could think 
of? No. Sarah loved her. "That is strange," you will 
say. Well, she did. I think she was the* only person 
in all Yarmouth that had a spark of love for her. If 
Sarah did love her, what then? You know love well 
enough, perhaps, to know that it always wants to be 
doing something. Love is very industrious. 

But what could poor Sarah Martin's love do? She 



72 Story of Jesus. 

thought she should like to go and see the woman. But 
that great, black, ugly-looking jail, who would have 
the heart to go there? It seemed to her even to smell 
wicked. She, however, stopped one morning at the 1 
porch and knocked, and when the jail-keeper came to 
the door, she asked leave to visit the poor creature 
who beat her child so. "No," said the jail-keeper, eye- 
ing her, "you can't go." 

This looked as if her love was n't of much use ; so 
she turned, and walked sorrowfully away to her work. 

A few days after, she stopped at the porch again. 
She knocked. The jail-keeper came, and again he saw 
modest little Sarah Martin at the door. She asked what 
she asked before. This time he said, "Yes," and let 
her in, and told the turnkey to show her to the right 
cell. 

"Curiosity," I dare say he thought ; yet he would not 
say "No" a second time. 

Sarah followed the turnkey through the long, dark, 
damp passages of the big jail, with their small, high, 
grated windows, which we should think the cheerful 
sun would hardly condescend to look into, only that 
the sun is not at all proud; it visits the lowly just as 
much as the high, and always the poor prisoners, when 
it can get in, as Sarah Martin has ; for by this time she 
is directly opposite the cell, the turnkey is rattling his 
huge keys, unlocking the big lock, the iron door is 
swinging open, Sarah is face to face with the' bad 



Tin-: Barren Kk;-Trkk. 73 

woman. I wonder if she minds the straw bed, the 
dirty coverlet, the miserable, comfortless look every- 
thing has. The woman — she has a horrid expression — 
stares at her unexpected visitor. 

"What do you come here for?'' she asked Sarah in 
a harsh voice. 

"1 come," answered Sarah, meekly, "because I love 
you. You are guilty and miserable. I come to tell 
you of God's mercy, the comfort you can find in the 
grace of His dear Son." 

O, that kind tone, that pitying eye ! The woman 
knew in a minute she had a friend; and the poor sin- 
ner burst out crying, and thanked her for coming. 
What the law, the officers of justice, the jail, and jail- 
keeper could not do, Sarah Martin's Christian love 
did — it softened her hard heart, and paved the way 
for her amendment. It was a good visit ; the first, but 
not the last. 

She went again and again. The other prisoners, 
hearing of her, wanted her to come and see them. She 
always carried her little Bible (she called it the pris- 
oner's friend), read to them, and instructed them in 
its precious truths. Old, gray-headed criminals wept 
as they listened to her; thieves, pickpockets, wicked 
sailors, and bad boys respected her. As she read, 
prayed, and felt for them by turns, it seemed as if an 
angel had come. They saw how blessed it was to be 
good, and for the first time in their lives longed to be 



74 Story of Jesus. 

good themselves. Their wicked ways never seemed 
so wicked ! 

Sarah found a great many of them could neither 
read nor write, and she felt she must have the privilege 
of teaching them. Where was she to get the time? 

"I thought it right," she says, "to give up a day 
in the week from dressmaking to serve, the prisoners/' 
Poor as she was, nobody ever paid her for the time; 
yet she said, "It was a pecuniary loss, but it was ever 
followed with abundant satisfaction ; for the blessing 
of God was on ine." 

O yes, God paid her! She found such delight in 
His service as nothing in this world could give. The 
Holy Spirit helped her every step of the way; other- 
wise it would have been a very hard task. 

A poor dresssmaker giving up one-sixth part of 
her working-time to do good among the worst of 
society in a common jail must make a good many 
of us ashamed. How backward we are even to make 
one visit to the needy ; how loath even to try to save 
a poor soul from ruin ! How unbelieving about the 
Holy Spirit helping us, or the Lord Jesus receiving 
poor sinners, if we do try ! 

At last the old grandmother died, leaving Sarah 
an income of ten pounds a year. She then moved into 
Yarmouth, and took two small rooms in a poor part 
of the town. But her dressmaking began to fall off — 



The Barren Pig-Trkk. 75 

it quite fell off. ( )ught she not to give up the poor 

prisoners, and try to get back her business? Prudent 
people told her she ought. 

"No," she said, with quiet firmness; "I have counted 
the cost, my mind is made up. If, while instructing 
others in God's good truth, I am exposed to temporal 
want, so momentary a privation is nothing in compari- 
son with following the Lord in thus ministering to 
others. ,, 

She enlarged her labors, and finally gave her whole 
time to them, refused all pay, went home every night 
to her poor little lodgings, tired, hungry, and cold, 
kindled her own fire, made her own tea, and went to 
bed all alone. God blessed and prospered her work, 
and filled her bosom with sweet peace and contentment. 

Is not this enough to kindle in you a desire to 
have the goodness which is love holy? 

6. Faith. — Faith is Love Overcoming. Two men were 
sinking a shaft in a coal-mine. It was a dangerous busi- 
ness; for it was necessary to blast the rock . It was their 
custom to cut the fuse with a sharp knife. One man 
then entered the bucket, and made a signal to be 
hauled up. When the bucket again descended, the 
other man entered it, and, with one hand on the signal- 
rope, the other holding the fire, he touched the fuse, 
made the signal, and was rapidly drawn up before the 
explosion took place. One day they left the knife 



76 Story ok Jksus. 

above; and, rather than ascend to procure it, they cut 
the fuse with a sharp stone. It took fire. "The fuse 
is on fire!" Both men leaped into the bucket, and 
made the signal ; but the windlass would haul up but 
one man at a time : only one could escape. 

One of the men instantly leaped out, and said to 
the other, "Up wT ye; I '11 be in heaven in a minute. " 

With lightning speed the bucket was drawn up, and 
one man was saved. The explosion took place. Men 
descended, expecting to find the mangled body of the 
other miner ; but the blast had loosened a mass of rock, 
and it lay across him in such a way that it left him in 
a kind of cave, and did not fall on him and crush him. 
With the exception of a few bruises and a little scorch- 
ing he was unhurt. 

They asked him : 

"Why did you insist on this other man's ascending ?" 

In his quaint dialect he replied: "Because I knowed 
my soul was safe ; for I have' gie it in the hands of Him 
of whom it is said that 'faithfulness is the girdle of 
His reins;' and I knowed that what I gied Him He'd 
never gie up. But t'other chap was an awful wicked 
lad, and I wanted to gie him another chance." 

7. Meekness. — Meekness is Love Hiding. There is a 
little tract called "A Mother's Love," which will help us 
to understand how meekness is love hiding. 

In a beautiful Italian village a bad plague broke 



The Barren FioTreb. 77 

out, which took ofif the whole of the family it first at- 
tacked. On the opposite side of the way lived the 

family of a poor laborer, who was absent during the 
whole week, only coming on Saturday nights to bring 

his scanty earnings. One evening his wife was attacked 
by the plague. In the morning she was much wor 
and before night the plague spot showed itself. She 
thought of the terrible fate of her neighbors if they 
took the plague from her. 

She knew she must die ; but as she looked upon her 
dear little boys, she resolved not to communicate death 
to them. She therefore locked the children in the 
room, and snatched her bed-clothes, lest they should 
keep the contagion behind her, and left the house. She 
even denied herself the sad pleasure of a last embrace. 
Think of the heroism that enabled her to conquer her 
feelings, and leave home and all she loved to die ! Her 
eldest child saw her from the window. "Good-bye, 
mother/' said he, in tenderest tones; for he wondered 
why his mother left him so strangely. 

"Good-bye, mother," repeated the youngest child, 
stretching his little hand out of the window. The 
mother paused. Her heart was drawing back. She 
struggled hard, while the tears rolled down her cheeks 
at the sight of her helpless babes. But she turned 
from them. 

The children continued to cry, "Good-bye, mother," 



78 Story of Jesus. 

The sounds sent a thrill of anguish to her heart; but 
she hid it away, and never let the little ones know 
how her heart was aching. She pressed on to the 
house of those who were to bury her, and in two days 
she died. 

8. Temperance. — Temperance is Love Denying Self. 
Here is a beautiful story of two little street waifs, which 
shows how love is willing to deny itself to be a comfort 
to others. 

"See here, Andy," said Jim to his chum, "my ticket 
is for two weeks ; a big orchard, sheep, cows, and milk 
by the bucket, old boy. I tell you what we '11 do ; we' '11 
go halves ; you jes' take my ticket, and 'low you are 
Jim Benner, and get shipped off right to the country. 
Now, let 's say you been there a week ; you up 's and 
tells you ain't Jim Benner; what then? Why, they 
packs you back to town, and they has me out 'stead 
of you." 

"You go first, Jim," Andy said; "then you let on 
you ain't Jim, and send back for me ; and I '11 keep your 
box and black shoe's." 

Jim saw the weak point in this scheme, and doubted 
whether he could disprove his identity ; but Andy could 
not be trusted to carry out the first plan, so the next 
thing was the second. Neither boy shrank from the' 
falsehood. They did not know of Him who hateth 
a lie. 



Thk Barren Pig Tree. 79 

So Jim went to the country, while Andy took 
stand, and did his best to "shine" Jim's customers, and 
watched eagerly round the corner for Jim to come 
back and let him take a turn at the orchard and the 
sheep. 

Meanwhile the poor city waif at Farmer Stone's 
was treated to the best of everything. 

"Jim Benner," said Farmer Stone, "you are wel- 
come to all you can get, and the only return I ask is 
that you never tell a lie while you are here." 

Jim promised, saying to himself: "Andy's chance 
is up, 'cause I can't say I ain't Jim Benner 'thout tell- 
ing a lie ; and I promised not to tell a lie." 

But as the days went on, and Jim watched the ways 
of the God-serving family, he longed for his little mate 
to share his new view of life ; and one day he made a 
clean breast of the promise he' had made Andy to 
change names with him. The next day, Andy came to 
Clover Hill. 

"I 've made up my mind," said the farmer's wife, 
"that them two boys is not to go back to the city. 
You step around lively, father, and get a place for 
the little chap, and we '11 have work enough for Jim." 

"Seems likely that 's what the Lord sent them out 
here for. They was busy keeping some of His com- 
mandments — 'bout loving one another and preferring 
one another — and now He 's passed 'em on to us to 
teach them the rest." 



80 Story of Jesus. 

And they are teaching us too, these poor little waifs, 
that temperance is love denying self. 

"This beautiful world has much of care 

And sorrow and pain and strife, 
And burdens indeed would be hard to bear 

If love did not sweeten life. 
The tenderest joy we shall ever know 

On earth or in heaven above 
Is the fairest light that will ever glow, 

And its beautiful name is love. 

O what should we do in the time of joy, 

And what in the time of tears, 
If tenderest hearts did not beat with ours, 

Nor sympathy bless our years ? 
And what should we do in our failing powers 

If love were not true and fond 
To brighten the wearisome days and hours 

Till we come to the gates beyond? 

O love is the beautiful light of home, 

Whatever of grief betides — 
And heaven is there with its shining dome 

In the heart where love abides. 
O ! love is the meaning of God himself 

And love is the magic key 
To open the door of the hardest heart, 

The glory of God to see. 

God pity the lives that are dark and lone, 

Where the love-light does not fall, 
And send to them some who shall make Him known 

That His dear love may bless them all. 
The tenderest joy we shall ever know 

On earth or in heaven above, 
Is the fairest light that will ever glow, 

And its beautiful name is love." 



Tin-: Bakki-n Pio-T 8i 

Those wlio have all the eight varieties of the fruit 
of the Spirit in their lives will never be like the bai 
fig-tree, will they? 

Let US Stop a moment, and pray Jesus that we may 

constantly bear the fruit of the Spirit — love, joy, pe; 
longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, m< 
temperance. 
6 



Chapter VII. 
JESUS RAISING JA1RUS' DAUGHTER. 

IN his beautiful home among the hills lived a rich 
ruler of the synagogue, named Jairus. 

Tie had an only daughter, twelve years old, whom 
he loved dearly. 

One day she was taken very ill. Her father and 
mother watched over her, and did all they could for 
her, but she grew worse. 

At last she lay so white and still they thought she 
was dying. Their hearts were breaking, and there 
was no more that they could do; for all their wealth 
could not make their little one well. 

Perhaps then they prayed to the Heavenly Father, 
and suddenly thought of Jesus, and how, one day, He 
was walking out near the gate of the city of Nain, 
and saw a dead man carried out to be buried, the 
only son of his mother, and she a widow, and remem- 
bered how Jesus had compassion on her, and went 
right to the bier, and touched it, and said, ''Young 
man, T say unto thee, Arise." 

And the dead son sat up and began to speak, and 

Jesus gave him to his mother. 

82 




raising daughter of jairus. 



Jesus Raising Jairus' I >augh per. 

And T think Jairus must have said something like 

this to his wife : 

"If Jesus could raise that mother's d< «, He 

can make our little girl well. 1 heard them sav He 
was going to dine at Matthew's house to -day. I am 
going to see if I can not hud Ilim." 

And almost before the wife could answer, he went 

away to Matthew's house, and there was Jesus sitting 

at the table, and all the people listening to his words. 

Jairus crowded in, and fell down at Jesus' feet, and 
worshiped Him, and said, 

"My little daughter lieth at the point of death : but 
I pray Thee, Come and lay Thy hands on her, that 
she may be healed, and she shall live." 

And Jesus arose, and went with him, and so did 
His disciples. 

But as He went, the crowd that followed Him 
was so great it was hard for them to get on. 

In the throng was a poor, sick woman, who had had 
an issue of blood twelve years, as many years as the 
little girl was old. She had spent all her money to 
be healed, and had suffered much from many doctors, 
but grew worse instead of better. 

Some one told her about Jesus, and she came in 
the crowd behind Him, and touched the hem of His 
robe ; for she said to herself, 

"If I may but touch His clothes, I shall be whole/' 

And the woman was made well from that hour, 



84 Story of Jesus. 

and the disease of blood was dried up, and she felt 
in her body that she was healed of her plague. 

Jesus knew that virtue had gone out of Him to 
heal some one ; so He turned and said to the crowd, 
"Who touched Me?" 

They all said: "It was not I! It was not II" 

Then Peter and the other disciples thought Jesus 
had asked a queer question, and they said, 

"Master, the crowd throng Thee and press Thee; 
why dost Thou say, 'Who touched Me?'" 

And Jesus said, kindly, "Some one has touched 
me'; for I know that virtue has gone out of me." 

And He looked round about to see who had touched 
Him. And when the woman saw that she could not 
be hid, she came with fear and trembling, and threw 
herself at His feet, and told Him all the truth, how she' 
touched Him, and was instantly made whole. 

Jesus looked at her so tenderly, and said : 

"Daughter, be of good comfort ; thy faith hath 
made thee whole. Go in peace, and be whole of thy 
plague. " 

All this time Jairus stood there, waiting and think- 
ing of his dear, sick daughter. 

It was hard to have the throng hinder and the 
poor woman stop Him when his case was so much 
more urgent. 

But think of all the beautiful lessons for Jairus and 
for us out of the delay. 



Jesus Raising Jairus 1 Daughter. S5 

Nothing is too hard for Jesus. 

There is no limit to God's power. 

God has no need to hurry. 

Jesus loves the poor as much as the rich. 

Delay tests faith to strengthen it. But delay is 
not denial. 

Because God does not seem to hear prayer to-day 
is no sign we shall not know to-morrow that He has 
heard. 

There are other needy ones beside ourselves to 
whom our waiting may prove a blessing. 

Selfish impatience must be checked. Delay pre- 
pares our hearts for richer blessings. 

Nothing Jesus does for others will hinder His 
doing for us. 

While Jairus stood there, sorrowful over the delay, 
a friend of his, another ruler of the synagogue, came 
to him, and said: 

"Thy daughter is dead. Why troublest thou the 
Master any further ?" 

Poor Jairus ! 

He must have said to himself, "Is there, then, no 
hope?" 

But Jesus looked right at him so kindly, and said, 
"Be not afraid; only believe, and she shall be made 
whole." 

As some one suggests, it was as if He had said : 

"Do not be afraid. Persevere in the faith you have 



86 Story of Jesus. 

shown thus far. My power is equal to My love. I can 
raise the little one from the dead as easily as from 
the sick-bed. Rest in My word, just believe Me, and 
your child shall live." 

And Jesus came to the house of the ruler of the 
synagogue. 

In the East, where Jesus lived, as soon as any one 
died, their friends hired mourners to come and weep 
for them. When Jesus and Jairus came to the house, 
the hired mourners and some friends and neighbors 
were there, weeping, and beating their breasts, tearing 
their hair, and making a great noise. Jesus said to 
them : 

"Why make ye this ado and weep? Weep not; 
give place ; for the damsel is not dead, but sleepeth." 

When God's children die, they are said to sleep. 
That means that they will rise again ; and there' is 
something very different in their dying from the dying 
of the wicked. 

And they laughed Him to scorn, knowing that to 
them she was dead. The wicked make' fun of what 
they do not understand. 

Jesus put them all out of the house. They did not 
believe I Tim, and they could not stay with Him. 

Then He took the three chosen disciples and the 
father and mother, and went into the child's room, 
and took the little girl by the hand, and said unto 
her, "Little darling, I say unto thee, Arise." 



Jesus Raising J urus j Daughter. 87 

And straightway the little girl's spirit came into 

her body, and she- arose and walked. 

Her parents were so astonished and delighted th 
forgot that the little girl had been so ill, and had not 
eaten anything, and was faint; but Jesus did not forget 
He said: 

"Give her something to eat." 

Jesus charged them that they should tell no man 
what was done. 

Jesus did not care for fame, and to have the miracle 
noised abroad would not be pleasant for the little girl. 
But they did not obey Him, and told the story, and 
His fame went abroad in all the land. 

Some one relates a beautiful incident of a little 
Jewish girl named Deborah, who lived in Russia. She 
learned many verses of the New Testament from a 
Christian boy who had committed them to memory. 
Among the verses was this story of the raising of 
Jairus' daughter. 

One day, on the arrival of Deborah's father, who 
had been gone from home a long time, she ran to meet 
him, and said, "I do love Jesus; he loved little chil- 
dren." This made the father angry; for the Jews do 
not believe that Jesus really was the Son of God. They 
believe that Jesus is yet to come. 

So the father told his child never to speak of Jesus 
again. Soon the child was stricken with scarlet fever, 
and the doctor gave no hope. A Gentile woman was 
called to nurse the child, as the Jews feared the fever. 



88 Story of Jesus. 

As the little one lay there unconscious, the woman 
quoted a verse of a hymn, and the father of little Deb- 
orah offered the death-bed prayer of the Jews. 

Then the child opened her eyes, and repeated, word 
for word, the story of Jairus' daughter. 

When she finished, her head fell back, and to all 
appearance she was gone. In an agony of mind the 
father fell down at the feet of Jesus, and besought 
Him, saying, "O Jesus, Thou who didst raise up the 
daughter of Jairus, raise up my little Deborah, and I 
will believe in Thee as Israel's Messiah!" 

That cry of agony was heard, and the child lived, 
and her father kept his promise, and believed on Jesus, 
and all his house was saved. 

Not often does any one have faith to ask Jesus to 
give their friends back to them from the dead; but 
the day is surely coming when all the dead that are 
in their graves shall hear His voice, and they that hear 

shall live. 

A little girl, not four years old, prattled constantly 
of a beloved uncle who was daily expected to arrive in 
a steamer from the South. But at last news came 
that he had died at sea, and been buried under the 
waves, and the child was heartbroken. She could not 
be comforted until some one told her of the" blessed hope 
of the Lord's coming and the resurrection. Then she 
went to her play, subdued and satisfied. Some time 
after, seeing one of the family in tears, she said, 

"Uncle will not always stay clown there in the" deep, 



Jgsus Raising J urus' 1 ) iugh i 

deep water; for Jesus is coming, and He will bring 

him up again all bright and new." 

Yes, dear (Mies, Jesus 19 coming agai.n, and those 

you have "loved and lost awhile" will come up out of 
their graves and meet those who shall he living when 
He comes, and together they shall be caught up 
meet the Lord in the air, and so shall they ever be with 
the Lord, (i Thess, iv, 14-18.) 



J 



Chapter VIII. 
FEEDING THE MULTITUDE. 

ONE day when Jesus heard that His faithful fore- 
runner, John the Baptist, had been beheaded by 
Herod, He said to His twelve apostles, 

"Come ye apart into a desert place and rest awhile. " 

For ther were many coming and going, and they had 
no leisure so much as to eat. 

And Jesus took them, and they departed thence and 
went aside by ship, privately, over the Sea of Galilee, 
which is the Sea of Tiberias, into a desert place apart 
belonging to the city called Bethsaida. 

And the people had heard thereof, and saw them 
departing, and many knew Him, and a great multitude 
followed Him, because they saw His miracles which He 
did on them that were diseased, and they ran afoot 
thither out of all the cities, and outwent Him and His 
disciples, and came together unto them. 

And Jesus, when He came out, went up into a 
mountain, and there He sat with His disciples. And 
the passover, a feast of the Jews, was nigh. 

When Jesus then lifted up His eyes, and saw much 

people come unto Him, He was moved with compassion 

toward them, because they were as sheep not having 

90 



n 

x 

± 

H 




Feeding the Multitudk. 91 

a shepherd; and lie received them, and began to teach 
them many tilings of the kingdom of Cud, and healed 
them that had need of healing. 

And when the day began to wear away, and was 
now far spent, lie saith unto Philip, "Whence shall we 
buy bread, that these may eat?" And this He said to 
prove him; for He Himself knew what He would do. 

Philip answered Him, "Two hundred pennyworth of 
bread is not sufficient for them, that every one of them 
may take a little." 

Then His disciples came to Him, and said unto Him, 
"This is a desert place, and now the time is far passed ; 
send the multitude aw\ay, that they may go into the 
country round about, and into the towns and villages, 
and lodge and buy themselves bread and victuals, for 
they have nothing to eat, and we are in a desert place." 

But Jesus answered, and said unto them, "They need 
not depart ; give ye them to eat." 

And they say unto Him, "Shall we go and buy two 
hundred pennyworth of bread, and give them to eat?" 

He saith unto them, "How many loaves have ye? 
go and see." 

And when they knew, one of His disciples, Andrew, 
Simon Peter's brother, saith unto Him, "There is a lad 
here which hath five barley loaves, and two small fishes : 
but what are they among so many? We have here no 
more but five loaves and two fishes : except we should 
go and buy meat for all this people." 



92 Story of Jesus, 

He said, "Bring them hither to Me." And He com- 
manded His disciples to make all the multitude to sit 
down by companies, by fifties in a company, upon the 
green grass. (Now, there was much grass in the place.) 
And they did so, and made them sit down in ranks, by 
hundreds, and by fifties. 

And when He had taken the five loaves and the two 
fishes, He looked up to heaven and He blessed, and 
when He had given thanks, He brake the loaves, and 
gave them to His disciples to set before them, and the 
disciples distributed and gave them to the multitude that 
were sitting down ; and likewise the two fishes divided 
He among them all, as much as they would. And they 
did all eat, and were all filled. 

When they were filled, He said unto His disciples, 
"Gather up the fragments that remain, that nothing be 
lost." 

Therefore, they gathered them together, and filled 
twelve baskets with the fragments of the five barley 
loaves and of the fishes, that remained over and above 
unto them that had eaten. And they that had eaten of 
the loaves were in number about five thousand men, 
beside women and children. 

Then these men, when they had seen the miracle that 
Jesus did, said, "This is of a truth that prophet that 
should come into the world. 

And when Jesus therefore perceived that they would 



Feeding tut Multitude. 93 

come and take Him by I take Him a king, He 

straightway constrained His dis 

and to go before Him to the other side, unto Bethsal 

while lie sent the multitudes away. And His dis 

went down unto the sea, and entered h nd 

went over the sea toward Capernaum. 

And when He had sent the multitudes away. He 

par md went up again into a mountain apart 

ay; and when the evening was come, and it was now 

dark, Jesus Himself was there alone on the land, not 

having come to them. But the sea arose by reason of 

a great wind that blew, and the ship was now in ; 

midst of the sea, tossed with waves ; for the wind v 

i 
contrary unto them; and He saw them toiling in rowing. 

And about the fourth watch of the night, when they 
had rowed about twenty-five or thirty furlongs, Jesus 
went unto them, walking upon the sea, and would have 
passed by them. 

And when the disciples saw Him walking upon the 
sea, and drawing nigh unto the ship, they supposed it 
had been a spirit: for they all saw Him, and were 
troubled, saying, "It is a spirit." And they were afraid, 
and cried out for fear. 

But immediately, Jesus spake unto them, saying, "Be 
of good cheer; it is I ; be not afraid. " 

And Peter answered Ilim, and said, "Lord, if it be 
Thou, bid me come unto Thee on the water." 



94 Story of Jesus. 

And He said, "Come." 

And when Peter was come out of the ship, he walked 
on the -water to go to Jesus. 

But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid; 
and, beginning to sink, he cried, saying, "Lord, save 
me!" 

And immediately Jesus stretched forth His hand, and 
caught him, and said unto him, "O thou of little faith, 
wherefore didst thou doubt?" 

Then they went up into the ship, and they that were 
in the ship willingly received them into it. And when 
they were come into the ship, the wind ceased. Then they 
that were in the ship were sore amazed in themselves 
beyond measure, and wondered. For they considered 
not the miracle of the loaves ; for their hearts were 
hard. And they came and worshiped Him, saying, "Of 
a truth Thou art the Son of God." 

And immediately the ship was at the land whither 
they went, and drew to the shore. 

And when they were gone over, they came to the 
land of Gennesaret. And when they were come out of 
the ship, straightway the men of that place had knowl- 
edge of Him, and they ran through that whole region, 
and sent out into all that country round about, and 
began to carry about in beds, all that were sick, and 
brought unto Him all that were diseased, where they 
hea-rd He was, and besought Him that they might 



Feeding tin: Multitude. 95 

only touch the hem of His garment, and as many as 

touched were made perfectly whole. 

And whithersoever He entered, into villages, or 

cities, or country, they laid the sick in the Stri Ittd 

besought Him that they might touch if it were but the 
border of His garment; ami as many as touched Him 

were made whole. 

The day following, when the people had found Him 
on the other side of the sea, they said unto Him, 
"Rabbi, when earnest Thou hither ?" Jesus answered 
them, and said, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, Ye seek 
Me, not because ye saw the miracles, but because ye 
did eat of the loaves and were filled. Labor not for the 
meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth 
unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give 
unto you : for him hath God the Father sealed." 

Then said they unto Him, "What shall we do, that 
we might work the works of God?" 

Jesus said unto them, "This is the work of God, that 
ye believe on Him whom He hath sent." 

They said therefore unto Him, "What sign shewest 
Thou then, that we may see, and believe Thee? What 
dost Thou work? Our fathers did eat manna in the 
desert ; as it is written, 'He gave them bread from 
heaven to eat.' " 

Then Jesus said unto them : "Verily, verily, I say 
unto you, Moses gave you not that bread from heaven. 



9 6 Story o* Jesus. 

But My Father giveth you the true bread from heaven. 
For the bread of God is He which cometh down from 
heaven, and giveth life unto the world/' 

Then said they unto Him, "Lord, evermore give 

us this bread." 

And Jesus said unto them, "I am the Bread of Life." 

It will help us to understand how Jesus is the Bread 
of Life if we see that what bread is to the body, Jesus 
is to the soul. 

Like bread, Christ is needed by the poorest and 
the richest, the youngest and the oldest, the weakest 
and the strongest. 

As nothing is so nourishing and necessary to bodily 
health as bread, so Christ is indispensable to the soul. 

As day by day we eat bread and never tire of it, 
so Christ constantly satisfies every want of our spiritual 

nature. 

As bread gives life to the body, so Jesus gives life 

to the soul. 

As bread is to be eaten, so Christ is to be appreciated. 

As through eating the forbidden fruit Eve died, so 
through eating heavenly food we live. 

Seven times in one chapter Jesus speaks of eating 
His flesh, which stands for appreciating and appropriat- 
ing His life and His death. 

A poor soldier lay dying in a Swiss hospital. His 
father coming to him, found him with the stupor of 
death gathering over his senses. 



Fkkding tiif v Multitude. 97 

"You must not die," said the old man. "I have 
brought money. You shall have medicines, deli* 
everything; and, as soon as you are strong enough, I 
will take you home." 

The sick man shook his head. He did not wain 
medicine nor tempting morsels. He felt that he v 
past help. 

The father's heart sank, and he turned away to hide 
his tears. 

Presently he opened his traveling-sack, and took out 
a loaf of bread. Breaking off a piece, he gently placed 
a crumb in his son's mouth. 

After a moment, the sick man swallowed it, and soon 
he opened his eyes and whispered, 

"More." 

"Your mother made that," said the father. 

"I know it," the sick man replied, "it is so good." 

The father laid the little loaf on the bed, and the 
poor soldier took it up in his hands and began to eat, 
with tears rolling down his face. From that hour he 
grew better, and in a few weeks was restored to health. 

Just as eating the bread his mother made restored 
the sick man to life, so eating the bread of God by faith 
brings life to the soul. 

Faith is not feeling something in you telling you 
that you are saved ; it is believing something outside of 
you; it is resting on God's sure, eternal Word, which 
7 



98 Story o* Jesus. 

shall never pass away. To believe in Christ prepares 
the way to enjoy Him. 

A minister sat beside a wealthy man who had lost 
all interest in business in his intense longing to learn 
the way of salvation. But in vain the man of God 
sought to bring him out into the sunlight. 

He was about to go away in despair, when the rich 
man's little daughter came into the room, and, throwing 
her arms about her father's neck, said, 

"Papa, my teacher says I must have a slate to- 
morrow ; may I have a slate ?" 

"Certainly, my darling." 

The little child kissed him and thanked him, and 
went away singing. 

Then the minister said, "The same faith in God 
which your little child has in you would bring you the 
gift of salvation." 

A radiant light broke over the rich man's face. "O 
I see !" he exclaimed. "I never knew it was so simple." 

Bread is the gift of God to men, and so is Jesus. 

A little girl and her mother were thinking about the 
things they had to thank God for. The little one 
thought her mother made the bread, and God did not 
give her that, so she said, 

"You give me bread, mother." 

"But," said her mother, "the flour we got from the 
shop, and the shopkeeper bought it from the miller, 
and the miller took the wheat from the farmer, and 



Feeding the Multitude. 99 

the farmer had it from the ground, and the ground 
grew it all itself." 

"No/ 1 cried Helen. "God grew it. The sun and 
the rain, the wind and the air, are His, and He sent 
them to the wheat-field. The earth is His, too. And 
so God is at the bottom of everything, is n't He, 
mother?" 

"Yes," said mother; "God is the origin of every 
good and perfect gift which we enjoy." 

The little girl looked serious. She sat a little while, 
thinking. 

Then she said, "Mamma, I can't make a prayer long 
enough to thank God for everything." 

Helen was right ; but it is hard for some people to 
understand how Jesus is God's gift to the world. 

A gentleman, walking along a railroad track, looked 
down upon a poorly-built cottage, where the daylight 
showed through the tiles on the roof. 

Going down to the front of the cheerless cottage, he 
saw that a mother and daughter lived there, and thought 
he would make them more comfortable before the win- 
ter, and hurried away. 

But he entirely forgot them, until one snowy morn- 
ing, weeks afterward, as he was about to pass the same 
way. His heart smote him, and he bought a pair of 
warm blankets, and thought he would have the pleasure 
of taking them himself. As he passed the window, the 

old woman was looking out, and he held up the parcel, 
LJC. 



IO o Story of Jesus. 

thinking she would understand that he was bringing 
her something. 

But she only frowned angrily, and shook her head. 

He opened the door, but she said, "Be gone, I do 
not want to buy any goods/' and slammed the door. 

He said, "She thinks I want to sell them! No won- 
der she is vexed, needing them so badly. I must make 
her understand that it is a gift." 

He opened the door again. More fiercely she bade 

him be gone. 

He saw that she was deaf, and her daughter not at 
home. "I will show her what it is," he thought, "may 
be she will understand then," and he untied the parcel. 

But the sight of the warm blankets only made her 
more conscious of her poverty, and she turned away 
indignantly, and said: "Why don't you go? I have 
told you I do not want them." 

What could he do? He took one out and held it 
up, and smiled and nodded his head, but the action 
seemed like the act of some resolute peddler, and she 
said, "Why don't you go away when I tell you?" 

Then he took the blanket and threw it around her, 
and burst into a hearty laugh. 

At last it flashed upon her. Looking up, almost 
afraid, she asked, 

"For me?" 

He nodded, and smiled. 

"A gift?" she said. 



Feeding thk Mri/rmni:. mi 

Again he nodded. 

"A gift for met" she repeated. 

She stroked it, and felt the warmth of it, then 

laughed, and cried, and grasped his hands, and than). 
him, while the tears ran down her wrinkled cl 

Jesus is God's gift to men. Here is another true 
story that will help us to understand this : 

An evangelist had been preaching among the poor 
in the most dangerous district in London. As he star; 
toward home, feeling his mission a failure, an old woman 
said, 

"I want to speak to you." 

"What is it?" 

"I am seventy-three, but I can earn my living by 
needle-work as well as ever I could/' 

"Why do you tell me this?" 

"I want you to know T , I did n't come here to beg." 

"What do you want from me?" 

"I am seventy-three," she repeated, "I can't live much 
longer, I have n't got this gift of God you told about, 
and I make bold to ask you to tell me more. Remem- 
ber, I am an old woman of seventy-three ; make it ay 
plain as you can." 

The evangelist saw that the woman was famished 
for want of food, and, taking a shilling from his pocket, 
said, "Mother, have you had any tea?" 

"I did n't come here to beg," she replied. 

"No one said you did, but answer my question." 



io2 Story of Jesus. 

"No, T ain't/ 1 she said, shortly. 

"Mother, have you any supper at home?" 

"I did n't come here to beg," she again repeated. 

"Mother, have you any supper at home?" 

"No, I ain't," angrily. 

"Well, here is a shilling; it will buy you bread, sugar, 
tea, milk, butter, wood, and a candle. It will give you 
food, light, and warmth." 

But she only repeated, "I did n't come here to beg." 

"You have not been accused of begging; but take 
the money. It has been given me for any who need it. 
You are cold and hungry, your need is sore ; take it." 

Still she said, "I did n't come here to beg, I only 
want you to tell me the way to heaven." 

"That shall surely come after, but you must take 
the money first." 

Slowly, reluctantly, she stretched out her thin, bony 
hand, until her fingers closed over the coin. 

"Now, mother," he said, "you want the gift of God, 
which is eternal life. And just as the wants of your 
body are all met in the shilling, so God has met the 
wants of your soul in the gift of Jesus Christ, His Son. 
In Him, God has provided all we need for time and 
eternity. But we must take Jesus as God's free, un- 
deserved gift. This we are unwilling to do. We want 
to earn Him, we want to deserve Jesus and heaven, but 
we never ran. Just as you were so unwilling to accept 



Feeding thk Multitude. 
the shilling, so thousands are unwilling to rec 

on the only terms that they can receive Him." 

"I thought 1 had to earn heaven," she said; "must 

I not repent?" 

"That will come by faith in Jesus, just as food and 
warmth and light were all in the shilling. Only believe 
in Jesus. M 

"Is that all?" 

"That is all. Repentance, joy, peace, heaven, are all 
in Jesus Christ." 

"Then I am a saved woman | M she cried, clapping 
her drawn, withered hands together, with the shilling 
between them, "for I bow to Jesus now." 

A few more words of counsel, another prayer, and 
the evangelist looked for the last time into the aged 
face, and saw hope, peace, and forgiveness resting there. 

Going 0*1 his dark, dangerous way, it seemed bright 
with a light from heaven. 



Chapter IX. 
THE TRANSFIGURATION. 

SOME time after the feeding of the five thousand, 
Jesus went out, and His disciples, into the towns 
of Caesarea Philippi. And it came to pass, when Jesus 
came into the coasts of Caesarea Philippi, as He was 
alone by the way, praying, His disciples were with Him ; 
and He asked them, saying unto them, 

"Whom do men say that I, the Son of man, am?" 
And they answered, and said, "Some say that Thou 
art John the Baptist: but some say Elijah: and others 
say Jeremiah, or that one of the old prophets is risen 
again." 

And He saith unto them, "But whom say ye that I 
am?" 

And Simon Peter answered, and said unto him : 
"Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God." 
And Jesus answered, and said unto him : 
"Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-jona, for flesh and 
blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father 
which is in heaven. And I say also unto thee, that thou 
art Peter, and upon this rock I will build My Church ; 
and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I 

will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven; 

104 




THE TRANSFIGURATION. 

(RAPHAEL.) 



Tin; Transfiguration. 105 

and whatsoever thou shah hind on earth shall be hound 

in heaven; and whatsoever fchotl shah luu.se uii earth 

shall be loosed in heaven." 

Then straitlv charged He His disciples, and com- 
manded them that they should tell nu man that He was 
Jesus the Christ. 

And from that time forth began Jesus to show unto 
His disciples and to teach them, saying, how that lie, 
the Son of man, must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer 
many things, and be rejected of the elders, and of the 
chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised 
again the third day: and He spake that say: eiily. 

Then Peter took Him, and began to rebuke Him, 
saying, "Be it far from Thee, Lord: this shall not be 
unto Thee. ,, 

But when He had turned about and looked upon 
His disciples, He rebuked Peter, saying unto him, 

"Get thee behind me, Satan : thou art an offense unto 
me: for thou savorest not the things that be of God, but 
the things that be of men." 

And when He had called the people unto Him, with 
His disciples also, He said unto them all : 

"Whosoever will come after Me, let him deny him- 
self, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me. For 
whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever 
will lose his life for My sake, and the gospel's, the same 
shall save it. For what shall it profit a man, if he s 
gain the whole world and lose his own .^uul ? or lose him- 



106 Story of Jesus. 

self and be cast away? or what shall a man give' in ex- 
change for his soul? For the Son of man shall conic 
in the glory of His Father with His angels ; and then 
He shall reward every man according to his works. 
Whosoever, therefore, shall be ashamed of Me and My 
words in this sinful generation, of him also shall the 
Son of man be ashamed, when He shall come in His 
own glory, and in the glory of His Father with the 
holy angels." 

And He said unto them, "Verily, I say unto 
you, That there shall be some of them that stand here, 
which shall not taste of death till they have seen the 
kingdom of God come with power, and see the Son of 
man coming in His kingdom." 

And it came to pass about eight days after 
these sayings, Jesus took with Him Peter and James 
and John his brother, and went up into a high moun- 
tain apart by themselves to pray. 

And as He prayed, He was transfigurel before them ; 
and the fashion of His countenance was altered, and 
His face did shine as the sun, and His raiment became 
shining, exceeding white and glistering as the light, so 
as no fuller on earth can white them. 

And behold, there appeared unto them in glory, two 
men, which were Moses and Elijah : who, talking with 
Him, spake of His decease which he should accomplish 
at Jerusalem. But Peter and they that were with him 



The Transfiguration. 107 

were heavy with sleep ; and when they were awake, 
they saw His glory, and the two men that stood with 
Him. 

And it came to pass, as they departed from Him, 
Peter answered, and said unto Jesus, 

"Lord, it is good for us to be here : and if Thou wilt, 
let us make here three tabernacles : one for thee, and 
one for Moses, and one for Elijah," not knowing 
what he said : for he wist not what to say, for they were 
sore afraid. 

While he thus spake, behold, there came a bright 
cloud, and overshadowed them : and they feared as they 
entered into the cloud. And behold, there came a voice 
out of the cloud, saying, 

"This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased ; 
hear ye Him." 

And when the disciples heard it, they fell on their 
face, and were sore afraid. 

And Jesus came and touched them, and said, "Arise, 
and be not afraid." 

And suddenly, when the voice was passed, and they 
lifted up their eyes, and looked about, they saw no 
man any more, save Jesus only with themselves. And 
as they came down from the mountain, Jesus charged 
them, saying, 

"Tell the vision to no man, nor what things ye have 
seen, until the Son of man be risen again from the dead." 



io8 Story of Jssus. 

And they kept that saying with themselves, ques- 
tioning one another what the rising from the dead 
should mean. 

And His disciples asked Him, saying, "Why, then, 
say the scribes that Elijah must first come?" 

And Jesus answered, and said unto them : 

"Elijah verily cometh first, and restoreth all things ; 
and it is written of the Son of man, that He must suflfer 
many things, and be set at nought. But I say unto 
you, That Elijah is indeed come already, and they knew 
him not, but have done unto him whatsoever they listed, 
as it is written of him. Likewise shall also the Son of 
man suffer of them. ,, 

Then the disciples understood that He spake unto 
them of John the Baptist. And they kept it close, and 
told no man in those days any of those things which 
they had seen. 

This wonderful story o-f the transfiguration of Jesus 
has some beautiful lessons. 

It was while Jesus prayed that the glory came. 

When Moses came down from Mount Sinai, where 
he had been forty days with God, his face shone so 
that the people could not look upon it. 

While Daniel prayed, the angel Gabriel touched him, 
and comforted him with the words, "I am come to 
give thee skill and understanding, for thou art greatly 
beloved." 



TllK TRANSFIGUB \TI<>.\\ 109 

When Stephen, the first Christian martyr, "looked 
Up," he "saw the glory of the Lord." 

Prayer in the Spirit always brings joy, or peace, or 
rest, or comfort, or strength, or glory. No prayer ever 
ascended to God that did not come back answered. 

We may ask and receive not, because we ask amiss, 
that we may spend it upon our pleasures; but that is 
not prayer. 

The Bible tells us the prayer of the upright is God's 
delight, and He heareth the prayer of the righteous. 

Our Heavenly Father would have us talk with Him 
continually about everything we do and all that inter- 
ests us ; about the things we can not understand and the 
secret thoughts that trouble us ; the need we can not 
meet; the injury we find it hard to forgive; the books 
we would read ; the friends we would like to have ; the 
money we would spend ; and the work we would do for 
Him. 

One of the names of Jesus is the Counselor. Coun- 
sel with Him the last moment before you sleep and the 
first moment as you wake. All the day in the spare 
spaces lift up your thought to Him. 

The instant any care or trial comes, whisper to Him, 
"Take it, dear Lord, and carry it, for I can not." 

As He sends pleasure or comfort, look up to Him 
and thank Him as you would a friend who had granted 
you a favor. 



no Story of Jesus. 

One day as I was coming home from a meeting, a 
procession was passing, and the children were in the 
windows and on the street and up on the fences. As 
I came on toward home, I noticed a little girl perched 
on a big gatepost. 

As I came near her, she accidently dropped her 
handkerchief right at my feet. 

As I stooped and picked it up and handed it to her, 
she said, so sweetly, "Thank you, ma'am." 

As I went on I kept thinking of the gentle little 
face, and over and over there came to me the words 
so sweetly spoken, "Thank you, ma'am." 

And as I saw how pleased I was with the little 
stranger's thanks, I thought, "That is the way with our 
Heavenly Father; He loves to have us thank Him for 
all He does for us." 

So now, when I lose anything, and ask Him to let me 
find it, and immediately He shows me where it is, I 
look up and say, "Thank you, Father." 

And when he grants me any favor, I like to say, 
"Thank you, Lord." 

This is a little what Paul meant when he said, "Pray 
without ceasing." 

And the more we pray, the more we love to pray. 

A dear Christian boy was asked by his pastor, 

"Jimmie, do you never get tired praying?" 

"No, sir, I think not," the boy modestly replied. 



The Transfiguration. hi 

"But," said the minister, wishing to try him, "per- 
haps you do n't pray enough to make yourself tired." 

"Ah ! sir," replied Jimmie, earnestly, "the less I pray 
the more tired I become." 

The second lesson we learn from the transfigura- 
tion of Jesus is, that we are not to be afraid. 

When God's voice came from the cloud telling the 
disciples to hear Jesus, they were afraid. But Jesus 
came and touched them, and said, 

"Be not afraid." 

Jesus means those three little words for us. We 
should fear nothing but to do evil. We should never 
be afraid of God or what He sends. He takes care 
of His own, and nothing shall harm them. 

Papa and mamma and Sam had been sitting out 
on the grass, enjoying the cool breezes. At last papa 
said, 

"Time to go to bed, my little man." 

"Are you going with me, papa ?" asked Sam. 

"You aren't afraid, are you?" 

"'Course I ain't 'fraid/' said Sam in surprise, "only 
it 's kind o' lonesome up there." 

"You can open the shutters," said papa, "and I will 
call good-night to you." 

So Sam went upstairs. Soon he called : 

"Papa, you would n't be afraid for me to sleep out- 
doors, would you ? God would take care of me, would n't 
he, papa?" 



ii2 Story or Jesus. 

"Why, of course/ 1 

"Well, then, said the little boy, triumphantly, "I want 
to sleep out in the hammock to-night; there wouldn't 
be anybody out there but God and me." 

He put on his gown, said his prayers, and came 
down hugging a pillow. Mamma wrapped 'him in a big 
shawl, and soon he was fast asleep. After watching 
him a long time, papa and mamma went upstairs. 

In the night some dogs went through the yard, growl- 
ing and fighting, but there was no sound from the ham- 
mock. 

"Did you hear the dogs, Sammy ?" asked mamma 
in the morning. 

"Yes, I heard 'em," answered the little man of faith, 
"but 'course I knew God was n't 'fraid of dogs." 

God and His angels are always near us ; so we need 
never be afraid. 

But the great lesson of the transfiguration is that 
Jesus is coming again some day, and those who love 
Him are going to be like Him. 

A beautiful, white, marble statue of a Greek slave 
girl stood in a market-place. 

A ragged, forlorn child passed that way, and stood 
looking up at the figure in rapt admiration. 

Going home, she washed her hands and combed her 
untidy hair. 

Again she stood by the statue, and returning, washed 
and mended her soiled, torn garments. 



Thk Transfiguration. 113 

Each time sihc looked at the form that held such a 
strange attraction it suggested some change in her life, 
until she grew to be pure and good. 

We become like those we live with and look at and 
love. 

A wild, wicked sailor boy went to see the beautiful 
painting, "Christ before Pilate. " 

He did not really want 'to go, but went to please 
his mother, so he acted as badly as possible ; threw his 
money in at the ticket-window, and went in to look at 
the picture with his hat on. 

He sat down, and looked up at the face of Jesus, so 
pure and patient ; and as 'he looked, he took ofT his hat. 

Soon he moved nearer, and at last tears came into 
his eyes, and he bowed his head and prayed to the 
Heavenly Father to forgive all his sins and make him 
His child. 

Then he went home and told his mother he loved the 
Savior and was going to serve Him. 

How beautiful to think that even gazing at a pic- 
ture of Jesus could change a wicked sailor lad and make 
him believe on Him and love Him ! 

Do you not love Him? Do you not wish to be like 
Him? Then learn this little prayer, and say it every 

night : 

"God, make my life a little light, 
Within the world to glow ; 
A little flame that burneth bright, 
Wherever I may go. 



ii4 Story of Jesus. 

God, make my life a little song, 
That comforteth the sad ; 

That helpeth others to be strong, 
And makes the singer glad. 

God, make my life a little staff, 
Whereon the weak may rest ; 

That so what health and strength I have 
May serve my neighbor best. 

God, make my life a little hymn 
Of tenderness and praise — 

Of faith that never waxeth dim 
In all his wondrous ways.'' 



Chapter X. 
THE PRODIGAL SON. 

GOD'S love is the heart of the gospel. Many of 
the sweet, little stories Jesus told to the people 
were to reveal the love of the Father for a lost world. 
Perhaps the sweetest of them all was this story of the 
prodigal son. 

A rich father had two boys, whom he loved dearly, 
and gave them all their heart could wish. One day, 
after the younger was of age, he said to his father, 

"Father, give me the portion of goods that falleth 
to me." 

He w r anted his own willful way instead of being 
willing to walk in his father's way. And the father 
knew the boy needed to learn some lessons, so he 
gave the young man his part of his estate. 

Not long after, the young fellow took all his money, 
and ran away without even saying good-bye. 

He took a long journey into a far country, and 
there he wasted his money in wild, wanton, wicked 
pleasures, until it was all gone. 

And when he had spent it all, a mighty famine arose 

in the land, and he was hungry, and it was hard to get 

work. 

"5 



1 16 Story o* Ji'.srs. 

At last he found a farmer who would let him go 
out into the fields, and take care of his pigs, the lowest, 
meanest occupation for this young man; for he was 
a Jew, and God had forbidden the Jews to keep swine 
or eat pork. 

All the lad had to eat were the long, slender pods 
of the carob-tree, with which he fed the pigs. These 
did not satisfy him, and he begged for food, and no 
man gave unto him ; for no one loved him or cared 
for him. He was utterly lonely. He had not one friend. 
All those who had shared his wealth and his sin had 
left him, now he was poor. 

He who had been his father's favored son became 
the servant of a swineherd, and a beggar. So low 
down sin brings us. He who will not be a son to the 
Heavenly Father will come to be a slave of the devil. If 
men will go away from God, they must suffer from the 
hands of Satan. 

In this sad state the young man came to himself. 
He began to think. His memory went back to the dear 
old home and the kind father and the school friends 
and the many comforts of the place he had left. Then 
he said to himself, 

"How many of the hired servants of my father 
have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with 
hunger!" 

He saw what a foolish boy he had been; he saw 
that to stay was to slowly starve. Perhaps his father 



Thk Prodigal Son. 117 

would forgive him and take him back, and let him be 
a servant, and work for him. So he said to himself, 

"I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto 
him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and before 
thee, and am no more worthy to be called thy son; 
make me as one of thy hired servants/ " 

So he turned his back on all his sin, shame, and 
sorrow, and his face toward his father's house. 

His father had been longing for him and looking 
for him. 

Love is far-sighted; so when he was yet a great 
way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and 
ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him. And the 
boy said unto him, "Father, I have sinned against 
heaven, and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to 
be called thy son." 

But the father stopped him, perhaps with kisses 
again. He would not let his boy go on and ask to 
take the servant's place. He forgave him freely and 
fully. 

One day, when I was a young girl, I sold some of 
my old school-books to get missionary money. I was 
not sure my parents would like it, so I hid it from 
them. But one night in a meeting I was very unhappy. 
My heart was not light. I knew I had not done right. 
I went to the altar, but it did no good. I kept thinking 
of the books I had sold without giving the money to 
my parents. I asked God to forgive me and give me 



„8 Story of Jesus. 

peace, and promised Him to tell my parents when I 

went home. 

God forgave me, and gave me his peace ; and when 
T went to my father and said, "Papa, I have come to 
tell you a wrong thing that I have done," he drew my 
little face down to his, kissed me and said, 

"My child, I do not want you to tell me; I forgive 
you without the telling." 

And 1 lav down to sleep so happy. I know a little 
how the prodigal felt when his father kissed him and 
forgave him and stopped him right in the middle of his 
story, and would not let him say to "make me one of 
thy hired servants," but turned to his servants, and 

said, 

"Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him, and 
put a ring on his hand and shoes on his feet, and bring 
hither the fatted calf, and kill it; and let us eat and 
be merry; for this my son was dead, and is alive again; 
he was lost, and is found." 

So the servants brought all these marks of the 
father's favor, and put them on the son, and they 
had a feast together, the father and the newly- 

found son. 

This parable is to teach us how God loves the 

sinner, and seeks the lost ones. 

In an English town, a band of young men, dressed 
in funny costumes, and with hands and faces black- 
ened, stood at Mr. Carr's door. After they had sung 



Tin: Prodigal Son. 119 

comic songs, with strange gestures and grimaces, a 
young man stepped to the door, tambourine in hand, 
to ask for pennies. Mr. Carr, taking a Bible out of 
the shop-window, said, 

"See here, young man; I will give you a shilling 
and this book if you will read a portion to your com- 
rades." 

"Here's a shilling for an easy job!" he called to 
his mates ; "I 'm going to give you a public reading." 

Mr. Carr opened to the first verse of our lesson, 
and told the young man to read it. 

"Now, Jim, speak up," said one, "and earn your 
shilling like a man." 

Jim read: "And He said, A certain man had two 
sons: and the younger of them said to his father, Fa- 
ther give me the' portion of goods that falleth to me. 
And he divided unto them his living." 

There was something in the voice of the reader 
and the strangeness of the circumstances that lulled 
all to silence, while an air of seriousness took possession 
of the youth. 

He read on : "And not many days after, the younger 
son gathered all together, and took his journey into 
a far country, and there wasted his substance with 
riotous living." 

"That 's you, Jim," cried one. "It 's just what you 
told me of yourself and your father." 

He read on : "And when he had spent all, there 



120 Story o* Jesus. 

arose a mighty famine in that land, and he began to 
be in want/ 1 

"Why, that 's you again, Jim !" said the voice. 
"Goon!" 

"And he went and joined himself to a citizen of 
that country; and he sent him into his fields to feed 
swine. And he would fain have filled his belly with 
the husks that the swine did eat; and no man gave unto 
him. ,, 

"That '& like us all ! We 're all beggars. Go on ! 
Let us hear what came of it." 

The young man read on, and his voice trembled: 
"And when he came to himself, he said, How many 
hired servants of my father's have bread enough and 
to spare, and I perish with hunger! I will arise and 
go to my father." 

At this point he broke down, and could read no 
more. All were moved. In the story of the gospel 
a ray of hope dawned. His father's house, and the love 
bestowed on him there, the hired servants all having 
enough, and then himself, his father's son, his present 
slate, companions, intemperate' habits, sins, poverty, 
outcast condition — all came climbing into the citadel 
of his mind, and overcame him. That day proved the 
turning-point in his life. The long-lost, yet dearly- 
loved, son returned to his home and to his Heavenly 
Father. 

Dear little one, if you arc trying to come to Christ, 



The Prodigal Son, 121 

and the way seems dark and the path steep and difficult, 
take courage. He is looking for you too; and if you 
only persevere, you are sure to meet Him in the way, 
and to hear His gracious voice saying, "Come unto Me." 

A rough man driving along a country road in a 
wagon, called out to a little fellow beside the road, 
"Hello, little stranger, what is the matter ?" 

He softened his voice in speaking, for the child in 
the road was crying. 

"I am lost ; I can't find my father," sobbed the child. 

"Is he a big man with a long white beard?" 

"Yes, that 's my father." 

"It 's all right, then, because he is looking for you. 
Keep right along, and if you do n't find him, he '11 find 
you." 

The child dried his tears and sprang up into the 
road again; for if his father was looking for him, of 
course he could not fail to be in his arms again after 
a while. 

Here is another true story of a lad whose father 
found him. He was a soldier boy in the Civil War of 
i860. His name was John Thomas. He was a great, 
overgrown lad of fourteen, was wild to enter the army ; 
but his parents were not willing to let such a mere lad 
go into the dangers and temptations of army life. So 
he ran away, and enlisted in a strange company. 

His parents' grief was intense, for they searched for 
him in vain. The summer came on, and the army in 



122 Story of Jesus. 

the South felt the heat. Way down in Louisiana army 
life lost its glamour, and many homesick boys pined 
away. 

At Morganza's Bend, a division of the Northern 
army was in camp. There was no fighting during the' 
summer, and a weary life it was. The fare was far from 
good, and the monotony w T as unendurable. Occasion- 
ally there w T as fatigue work in the w r ay of unloading 
boats that came with supplies, heavy work in the intense 
heat. One day a soldier, helping to carry the boxes up 
the steep bank, heard a familiar voice say, "O, I wish 
I was at home !" 

A neighbor's son heard John Thomas speak, and 
knew his voice. The boy was slowly dying. The dis- 
ease of the climate was on him, and a deadly homesick- 
ness. This old friend found out that John Thomas had 
not yet let his parents know what part of the South he 
was in. He was too proud to write home. 

The boy grew worse. One day as he went to dinner 
he fell. They lifted him and carried him to the hos- 
pital, and the doctors said the lad had only a few hours 
to live. His cry for home was pitiful. 

That afternoon a strange' sound was heard. A dis- 
tant cry came nearer and nearer. The first words the 
listeners caught were, "Wants you !" Soon other words 
were heard, till clear the call came, "John Thomas, your 
father wants you; John Thomas, your father wants 
you r 



Tiik Prodigal Son. 123 

Xcarcr and nearer came the cry, till it penetrated 
the hospital. The old man was in the street outside. 
His voice thrilled every heart, as it called, "John 
Thomas, your father wants you; John Thomas, your 
father wants you I" The boy had been unconscious ; 
but suddenly he half rose, his face flushed with joy, and 
shouted, "Here, father! here, father !" and fainted dead 
away. 

"O, the joy of the meeting when the boy came to 
himself and looked into his father's face ! 

The boy lived long enough for his father to talk with 
him, to bring the mother's forgiveness with his own, 
and point the lad to the merciful Father above. 

John's father had gone up and down our armies, 
through regiments and companies and divisions, till he 
found his boy. His love and persistence is a beautiful 
type of the great Father seeking the lost. 



Chapter XI. 
THE RAISING OF LAZARUS. 

A CERTAIN man was sick, named Lazarus, of 
Bethany, the town of Mary and her sister Martha. 

It was that Mary which anointed the Lord with 
ointment and wiped his feet with her hair whose brother 
Lazarus was sick. 

Therefore Lazarus' sisters sent unto Jesus, saying, 
"Lord, behold, he whom Thou lovest is sick." 

When Jesus heard that, he said, "This sickness is 
not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son 
of God might be glorified thereby." Now Jesus loved 
Martha and her sister and Lazarus. When he heard 
therefore that he was sick, He abode two days still in 
the same place where He was. 

Jesus' life was in danger in the region of Bethany, 
for the Pharisees were trying to find Him to put Him 
to death, and so He had gone away into Peraea. But 
Mary and Martha knew that no fear of danger would 
keep Jesus for one moment from their side, so they sent 
for Him. 

They believed that if Jesus would only come to them 

Lazarus would not die. There their faith stopped. 

Jesus sent back the comforting promise, "This sickness 

is not unto death, but for the glory of God." 

124 




THE RAISING Ob LAZARUS. 

(SCHEFFER.) 



Tm: Raising o* Lazari i 25 

If they had believed as did the nobleman when Jesus 

said, "Thy son liveth," Lazarus would have lived. 

If they had exercised faith, Lazarus would have been 
healed in the self-same hour as the centurion's servant 
was when his master believed that Jesus could say a 
word and his servant would be well. 

But they doubted, and Lazarus died. Therefore, 
that Jesus might develop their faith and glorify God, 
He did not go directly to them, but staid two days still 
in the same place where He was. 

God permits pain because it perfects us. Christ kept 
aw r ay from Bethany because He loved the sisters. He 
let them suffer that He might teach them to be strong. 

The leaves of the fragrant plant are crushed to get 
their sweet odor. The ore must pass through the hot 
furnace before we can get the gold. The marble must 
be cut w f ith the sharp chisel before it is a thing of 
beauty. The precious stone is polished on the harsh 
wheel before we can see its bright colors. 

" This leaf, this stone, . . . it is thy heart 
It must be crushed by pain and smart, 
It must be cleansed by sorrow's art, 
Ere it will yield a fragrance sweet ; 
Ere it will shine a jewel meet, 
To lay before the Savior's feet." 

Then God permits pain because 1 it draws us to Him. 
A great man says : "While Lazarus was in health, no 
messenger went to bring the Savior. When death hov- 



i2<S Story or Jesus. 

ered, they sent for Him with all speed. Pain, like the 
ocean surge, lifts us and flings us at the feet of the 
Savior. The moaning waters drive the dove to the ark ; 
the dreary winter sends the swallows South; the sharp 
pruning knife compels the sap into the ripening branch ; 
the tempest roar makes the timid nursling nestle close to 
the mother's side. Pain makes us want God. 

Then God permits pain because it brings blessings 
to others. Tf Lazarus had not died, there would have 
been no wonderful miracle of resurrection, no record 
of the wonderful words to the sisters which have been 
a blessing to so many people all through the years 
since the day Jesus spoke them. 

A little girl was taken ill. She suffered terribly. 
Her father was an infidel, and it was a great grief to 
her. She had prayed for him often. During her illness 
she never complained nor moaned, but was loving and 
patient. One day her father said : 

"Darling, how is it you suffer so, and never 
murmur?" 

"Jesus helps me to bear the pain/' the little one 
said, "and I do not mind. O ! how I wish you loved 
Him r 

The tears gathered in the father's eyes as he an- 
swered: "Teach me how, child. There must be a God, 
for nothing else could have helped my brave little girl 
to be so patient." 

And when Minnie was well and saw her father a 



Tin: Raising o* Lazarus. 127 

happy Christian, was she not glad for the pain which 
had been the instrument, under God, of his conversion? 

Ah ! by and by Jesus will let us see why He some- 
times permitted us to suffer, and we shall be happy to 
have had it so. Let us trust Him. 

Jesus knew He was going to waken Lazarus, so He 
did not hurry when He heard Lazarus had fallen asleep 
in death. Jesus always knows best. Whenever He 
keeps us waiting and does not help or answer right 
away, we should be glad and satisfied to wait. 

When Jesus came He found that Lazarus had lain 
in the grave four days already. Now Bethany was nigh 
unto Jerusalem, about fifteen furlongs off: and many of 
the Jews came to Martha and Mary, to comfort them 
concerning their brother. 

Then Martha, as soon as she heard that Jesus was 
coming, went and met Him ; but Mary sat still in the 
house. Then said Martha unto Jesus : 

"Lord, if Thou hadst been here, my brother had 
not died. But I know that even now whatsoever Thou 
wilt ask of God, God will give it Thee." 

Jesus saith unto her, "Thy brother shall rise again." 

Martha said unto Him, "I know that he shall rise 
again in the resurrection at the last day." 

Jesus said unto her : "I am the resurrection and the 
life : he that believeth in Me, though he were dead, yet 
shall he live : and whosoever liveth and believeth in Me 
shall never die. Believest thou this?" 



I2 8 Story of Jesus. 

?hc saith unto Him. "Yea, Lord: I believe that Thou 
art the Christ, the Son of God. which should come unto 

the world." 

And when she had so said she went her way, and 
called Mary, her sister, secretly, saying. "The Master is 
come, and calleth for thee." As soon as Mary heard 
that, she arose quickly and came' unto Him. 

Now Jesus was not yet come into the town, but 
was in that place where Martha met Him. The Jews 
which were with her in the house and comforted her, 
when they saw Mary, that she arose up hastily and went 
out, followed her, saying, 

"She goeth unto the grave to weep there." 

Then when Mary was come where Jesus was and 
saw Him, she fell down at His feet, saying unto Him, 

"Lord, if Thou hadst been here my brother had not 

died." 

When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews 
also weeping which came with her, He groaned in the 
spirit, and was troubled, and said, "Where have ye laid 

him?" 

They said unto Him, "Lord, come and see." 

Jesus wept. 

Then said the Jews, "Behold, how He loved him !" 

And some of them said, "Could not this Man. which 

opened the eyes of the blind, have caused that even this 

man should not die?" 



Tin: Raising of Lazarus. 129 

Jesus therefore again groaning in Himself cometh to 
the grave. It was a cave, and a stone lay upon it. 

Jesus said, "Take ye away the stone. " 

Martha, the sister of him who was dead, saith unto 
Him, 

"Lord, by this time he stinketh ; for he hath been 
dead four days." 

Jesus saith unto -her, "Said I not unto thee, that, if 
thou wouldest believe, thou shouldest see the glory of 
God?" 

Then they took away the stone from the place where 
the dead was laid. 

And Jesus lifted up His eyes, and said: "Father, 
I thank Thee that Thou hast heard Me. And I know 
that Thou hearest Me always ; but because of the people 
which stand by I said it, that they may believe that 
Thou hast sent Me." 

And when He had thus spoken, He cried with a 
loud voice, "Lazarus, come forth !" And he that was 
dead came forth, bound hand and foot in grave-clothes ; 
and 'his face was bound about with a napkin. 

Jesus saith unto them, "Loose him, and let him go." 

Then many of the Jews which came to Mary and 
had seen the things which Jesus did, believed on Him. 

Death is a mystery. We can not understand how 
the spirit goes to God, and the body has to be laid 
away. It seems hard to die. I read a sweet little story 
9 



12,0 Story of Jr s 

in the Deaconess' Advocate about a poor little slum 
girl who was helped to die. 

Two little twins came to Sister Katherine, the 
deaconess in the settlement at Chicago, and said: 

"Nan, Sister! She's been a-dreamin' all night, an* 
she 's all hot an' shaking an' mother says could yer step 
round fer a minit? She 's funny in 'er 'ead ; she keeps on 
a-thinkm she's the queen, yer know [Nan had been 
crowned Queen of the May at the settlement only the 
day before], an' she hollers shockin'!" 

As Sister Katherine stooped over the pillows, a faint 
voice said, "Is I goin' ter die, Sister?" 
"Perhaps, Nan dear." 

"An' will I be put into the hole in the ground an' be 
bunged up in a cawffin?" 

"Yes, Nan, one part of you will." 
"It 's that I can't a-bear ter think of— -ter be screwed 
up in no room at all, an' ter screech an' screech an' 
screech to git out, an' no one ter hear yer. O, I is orful 
hot, an' it hurts me ter breeve. Will yer gi' mother a bit o' 
crape, Sister, cos she ain't got none, and the rent 's orful 
this year! I carn't abide ter think o' the cawffin, Sister ; I 
knows I '11 warnt ter git out." 

Sister Katherine paused for a moment; then taking 
one hot little hand in hers firmly, she said : "Nan, dear, 
only part of you goes into the coffin — that part that 
can't feel any more pain ; but the part that is afraid to be 



The Raising of Lazarus. 131 

alone, Cod takes care of so carefully. Do you know what 
T mean, little one ?" 

"Yus," said Nan, thoughtfully, with her eyes fixed 
on Sister Katherine's glowing face. 

"God never leaves us alone for a minute ; He is al- 
ways close beside us, though we can not see Him — you 
know that, Nan dear. When one part goes into the 
coffin, the other part — and that 's the real you, dear — 
that part He '11 take to be with Him." 

"Yus," said the child, never taking her eyes from 
Sister Katherine's face. 

"Do you remember, Nan, down in the country, how 
we used to see how good old mother earth was to 
the little seeds and flowers? We used to say she took 
such care of them, did n't we ?" 

"Yus," said Nan again, drowsily, and her hand grew 
colder. 

Suddenly Nan stirred uneasily, and her lips moved. 

"She fancies she is back in the country. Listen, she 
is saying our evening prayer." 

The twins bent their heads as they knelt by the bed, 
and repeated, led by Nan's clear voice — 

" Dear Father, whom I can not see, 

Smile down from Heaven on little me" — 

right through to the end. As the Amen was said, there 
fell a great hush on the little room; then Nan's tired 



ija Story or Ji-sr 

lids, with the long lashes, dropped heavily over the gray 
eyes, never to open again until Jesus comes in the resur- 
rection morning. 

Let me give you another story of a bright little 
Christian child named Dotty, who put her little hand 
in her grandpa's, and said, looking earnestly up into 

his face, 

"What's the use of heaven if you have to go into 

the ground?" 

"Well, Sunshine," said the old man, rubbing his hand 
over his hair. "Ye see, 't aint you that goes inter the 
ground ; it 's about the same as w'en yer gran'ma lays 
by yer winter clo's in the cedar chest come summer 
w'en yer do n't want 'em, Dotty, ye know." 

"O!" said Dotty, joyfully, "it "s just like the dande- 
lions. They grow and grow and shine and shine until 
they 're all white with shining, and then they blow away 
to some place, all except the stem of them, and that is 
all withered up and is n't any good, and it falls down into 
the ground, I guess, and maybe it comes up some time 
all nice and fresh. And that is the way with us. It 's 
the wilted part that God hides away, so it can be made 
over new, isn't it, gran'pa? And the white part of us 
blows away to Him." 

So it was with Lazarus. The part of him went to 
heaven as soon as he fell "asleep;" and his poor, sick, 
tired body went into the grave until Jesus raised it again. 
When Jesus returns to earth the bodies of those who 



Ths Raising o* Lazarus. 133 

believe Him, whether living or in graves, will be made 
over new in a moment, in as short a time as it takes to 
twinkle the eye. We should let this thought comfort 
us when a loved one who believes in Jesus goes to sle 
and never wakes up. 

At the battle of Inkerman a soldier was just able 
to crawl to his tent after he was struck down. When 
they found him, he was lying upon his face, his open 
Bible before him, his hand glued fast to the page with 
his life-blood wdiich covered it. 

When his hand was lifted, the letters of the printed 
page were clearly traced upon it, and with the ever- 
living promise in and on his hand they laid him in his 
soldier's grave. The words were, 

"I am the resurrection and the life : he that believeth 
in Me, though he were dead, yet shall he live." 

Yes, all those w T ho sleep in Jesus will rise out of their 
graves when He comes. Let us live for Him here that 
we may meet Him there. 



Chapter XII. 
THE FOOLISH VIRGINS. 

OVER in the last book of the Bible we read : "Let 
us be glad and rejoice, and give honor to Him : for 
the marriage of the Lamb is come, and His wife hath 
made herself ready. 

"And to her was granted that she should be arrayed 
in fine linen, clean and white ; for the fine linen is the 
righteousness of saints. 

"And He saith unto me, Write, blessed are they 
which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. 
And He saith unto me, These are the true sayings of 
God." (Rev. xix, 7-9.) 

One day Jesus gave His disciples a parable about 
this wedding. He said to them, 

Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto 
ten virgins, which took their lamps, and went forth to 
meet the Bridegroom; and five of them were wise, and 
five were foolish. 

They that were foolish took their lamps, and took 
no oil with them : but the wise took oil in their vessels 
with their lamps. 

While the Bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered 

and slept. 

134 







THE FOOLISH VIRGINS. 

(BEDA ) 



Thk Foolish Virgin 135 

And at midnight there was a cry made, "Beh< 
the Bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet Him." 

Then all those virgins arose and trimmed their lamp-. 

And the foolish said unto the wise, "Give us of your 
oil ; for our lamps are gone out." 

But the wise answered, saying, "Not so; lest th< 
be not enough for us and you : but go ye rather to them 
that sell, and buy for yourselves/' 

And while they went to buy, the Bridegroom came ; 
and they that were ready went in with Him to the mar- 
riage ; and the door was shut. 

Afterward came also the other virgins, saying, 

"Lord, Lord, open to us." 

But He answered and said, "Verily, I say unto you, 
I know you not." 

Watch, therefore, for ye know neither the day nor 
the hour wherein the Son of man cometh. 

My sister, Mrs. L. M. Pate, writing one day about 
this wedding and the virgins, said : 

"In the Eastern countries it was the custom when 
a man had been married to bring his bride home in the 
nighttime. His friends would go out to meet him, 
carrying lamps to light the happy pair on their way 
and give them a bright welcome. 

"The foolish virgins were not ready to meet the 
Bridegroom. There was no time to prepare, the Bride- 
groom had come. They were left outside the door. 

"How many little ones are like the five foolish vir- 



136 Story <>f Jesus. 

gins! How many think there is no hurry about pre- 
paring to meet Christ, the Bridegroom! How many say, 

u 'There is plenty of time to be a true, watching, 
zealous Christian when I am older.' 

''Ah ! my child, you do not know that you will ever 
be a day older. While you are asleep to-night the Bride- 
groom may come, and the lamp be found empty, and 
the door be shut. 

"Louise was a good girl, kind, gentle, and loving. 
Her mother left her in charge of the house one day, 
giving her special directions to go downstairs in half 
an hour and shut the damper to the stove. 

" 'Yes, mamma/ she said, very willingly. 

"The mother went. The half hour passed. Louise 
was having a delightful time playing dolls, dressing them 
to play go out, and she said, 

" 'I '11 just finish putting on the cloak and hat, and 
then I '11 go ; it will only take a minute.' 

"How long those minutes are, sometimes! You 
know, girls, one can't always arrange dolly's hat and 
cloak to suit them in a s'hort, real minute. 

"Louise fussed till roused by the strike of the clock 
again. 

" 'O, dear, I must go,' she said, and ran down in a 
great hurry, to meet a cloud of smoke at the basement 
stairs. What could be the matter! Matter? why, the 
stove 'had been left till it was so hot that it had caught 
the wood near it, and the kitchen was burning. 



'Phi-: Foolish Virgin 137 

"Ah! do you not think poor Louise regretted this 
trouble brought on by her putting off? 

"Of course she did. She did n't mean to have all 
that trouble come. The foolish virgins didn't mean not 
to be ready when the Bridegroom came. 

"The foolish virgins did n't mean to be shut out. 
So many of the boys and girls do not mean to be shut 
out of the kingdom of heaven ; no indeed, they mean 
to be the most earnest and true Christians ; they mean 
to be good, but they think 'there 's no great hurry 
about it.' 

"Yes there is ; if there is one thing on earth that there 
is hurry about, it is coming to Christ, for you may only 
have one minute to do it in. He only gives us one short 
minute at a time. If you do not get ready now for His 
coming, if you sleep and are indifferent, your lamp will 
be empty, the door will be shut. You will be on the 
outside." 

Look at the picture and see the poor, foolish virgins 
shut out from the wedding supper. One is knocking in 
agony at the gate; another, in despair, is looking down 
at her lamp ; another, in a frenzy of grief, has thrown 
herself down on the steps; another sits wringing her 
hands ; and one has not yet awakened to know the awful 
loss that is hers because she did not have her lamp 
trimmed and burning. 

Lamps in the Bible stand for people, and the oil is 
the Holy Spirit; so those who are not filled with the 



138 Story of Jesus. 

Holy Spirit in spirit, soul, and body will not go in to 
the wedding when Jesus comes. 

A minister who had never taught his people about 
the Lord's coming, nor given them an invitation to the 
wedding supper, read one night at prayers the fourth 
chapter of first Thessalonians. 

He sat down in the easy-chair, and began to think 
of what he had been reading— the Lord's coming. He 
fell asleep and dreamed. This is his dream f 

I thought I wakened in the morning, and was sur- 
prised to find that my wife was not beside me. Sup- 
posing she had stepped into another room, I waited ; but, 
after a long time, as she did not come, I rose and 
dressed. Her clothing was where she had placed it on 
the chair, and I felt that she was about the house. I 
went to daughter Julia's room, but after knocking several 
times without response, I entered, and found that she 
also was missing. 

"Strange, passing strange," said I ; "where can they 

both be?" 

Then I went to our son Frank. He said he had 
passed a restless night. I told him of the absence of 
his mother and sister, and asked him to see if he could 
not find them. Soon he came back, and said the missing 
ones were not to be found, and that every door was 
locked as on the evening before. 

What to make of this strange thing we did not know. 
On again visiting Julia's room, we found her well- 



The Foolish Virgins. 139 

marked, open Bible. One verse particularly attracted 
my attention, 

"Be ye also ready, for in such an hour as ye think 
not the Son of man cometh." 

This passage, my wife had always declared, referred 
to the coming of Christ, while I said it meant only 
preparation for death. 

Frank and I concluded that we should each take a 
different route, and visit some of our intimate friends 
in quest of our dear ones. 

I called on my wife's sister, Mrs. E . She and her 

husband w r ere good people, members of a Christian 
Church, though worldly-minded. 

After I had rung the bell several times she appeared 
and apologized, saying that she had to prepare breakfast, 
for the colored servant, whom she had considered a 
Christian, had played her a mean trick. She had gone 
off somewhere, without even putting the kettle on the 
range or saying a word. 

"But what puzzles us is how r she got out of the 
house, for the doors are all locked and the keys inside, 
just as we left them last evening on our return from 
the progressive euchre party." 

"Indeed," said I, "it is exceedingly strange," and I 
explained the object of my morning visit. 

When she heard of the mysterious absence of my 
wife and Julia, she became so nervous I was glad to 



140 Story o* Jfisus. 

change the subject by saying that, as I had not yet 
breakfasted, 1 would join them. 

Her husband heard my story with a good deal of 
levity, and declared that my wife was playing me a prac- 
tical joke. 

He was sure the missing ones had secreted them- 
selves about the house, and, when I returned, I would 
find them all right. 

At the table, Mrs. E said we would have to take 

coffee without milk, as her milkman had failed to make 
his appearance. 

Presently the bell rang, and Frank entered in great 
excitement, saying he had been all over inquiring for 
his mother, and that in every house he found trouble 
similar to our own. 

Almost every one was searching for missing ones. 
The streets were thronged with excited people hurrying 
to and fro, many of them weeping bitterly. 

As the morning advanced, it was suggested that we 
go to our business places. Frank had already gone, and 
I, with a heavy heart, wended my way along the avenue 
among an unusual throng of men and women whose 
faces wore a look of intense sorrow. Many stores were 
closed, and those that were open did not appear to be 
doing any business. When I reached my own store, I 
found that my bookkeeper and the faithful old porter, 
who had served me so many years, had not been there. 



The Foolish Virgins* 141 

My other two clerks were on hand, doing nothing, nor 
did I feel like asking them to do anything. 

I went to the Chamber of Commerce, and found the 
largest gathering of merchants that I had seen in months. 
Instead of the lively, noisy bustle, a solemn gloom per- 
vaded the assembly. They all agreed that the visitation 
was a strange one, and that in same way we who were 
left were to blame. 

In the evening nearly every church in the city was 
open, with overflowing congregations. Everybody was 
anxious to know the cause and meaning of the "great 
visitation." Many of the pastors 'had gone, but some 
were present in their churches. 

In my own church the pastor was present, with scores 
of persons whom I had but rarely seen at meetings. 
Audible groans and deep-drawn sighs were heard from 
various parts of the room. Some were moaning the loss 
of children, others of husbands, of wives, of fathers and 
mothers. The pastor was speaking when I entered, en- 
treating the audience to allay their feelings. He said : 

"None of you can realize the keen disappointment 
I experience at this result of my labors. I am accused 
of having preached too much about the affairs of this 
life, and too little about the things to come, and of 
having kept you in ignorance of the imminence of this 
awful visitation. I can only say that I have taught you 
the same theology that was taught in the college: to 



142 Story of Jesus. 

treat the Bible as a Book of spiritual symbols and alle- 
gories. But I confess that I was sadly mistaken, fcr, 
after what has occurred, I can not help believing that 
God's Word means just what it says." 

Here the electric light suddenly went out, and there 
arose such fearful screams that I sprang to my feet in 
terror — and awoke. 

My wife came from the adjoining room to see what 
was the matter. 

O, how glad I was to see her, and to realize that 
the terrible experience was only a dream ! But the more 
I thought of it, the more solemn seemed the Scripture 
truths which it contained, and the more was I impressed 
with the importance of being ready for the coming of 
the Lord. 

Little ones, are you ready for Jesus ? Have you the 
oil in your lamps ? Have you the love of Jesus in your 
heart? Do you trust Him for everything? 

Little Alice looked up into her mother's face, and 
said, 

"Mamma, what can I do for Jesus?" 

"You can love Him," her mother said. 

"I do that. I love Him, and that 's what makes 
me ask." 

"How do you know you love Him?" asked her 
mother. 

"Because I feel a cry in my eyes when I think of 
Him, like as I do for my papa off in India." 



Thk Foolish Virgins. 143 

The child loved her father, and when they talked 
about him her eyes would grow moist, and she would 
lay her head upon her mother s bosom and go to sleep. 

If we are ''ready" there is a cry in our eyes when 
the name of our Lord is mentioned. We love His will, 
His Word, His work, Himself, better than all else. We 
"love His appearing" and long for His presence, and 
pray often, "Come, Lord Jesus." 

" It may be at morn when the day is awakening, 
When sunlight through darkness and shadow is breaking, 
That Jesus will come in the fullness of glory, 
To receive from the world * His own.' 

It may be at midday, it may be at twilight. 
It may be, perchance, that the blackness of midnight 
Will burst into light in the blaze of His glory, 
When Jesus receives * His own.' 

While its hosts cry Hosanna, from heaven descending 
With glorified saints and the angels attending, 
With grace on His brow like a halo of glory, 
Will Jesus receive ' His own.' 

O joy ! O delight ! should we go without dying : 
No sickness, no sadness, no dread and no crying ! 
Caught up through the clouds, with our Lord, into glory, 
When Jesus receives ' His own.' " 



Chapter XIII. 
THE BETRAYAL OF JUDAS. 

SOON after Jesus had finished the parable of the fool- 
ish virgins, He said unto His disciples, 

"Ye know that after two days is the Feast of the 
Fassover, and the Son of man is betrayed to be cruci- 
fied/ 1 

Then assembled together the chief priests, and the 
scribes, and the elders of the people, unto the palace of 
the high priest, who was called Caiaphas, and consulted 
that they might take Jesus by subtilty and kill Him. 
But they said, 

"Not on the feast day, lest there be an uproar among 
the people/' For they feared the people. 

Now when Jesus was in Bethany, in the house of 
Simon the leper, they made Him a supper, and Martha 
served : but Lazarus was one of them that sat at the 
table with Him. 

Then there came unto Him Mary, having an alabaster 
box of very precious ointment of spikenard, of a pound 
weight, and she brake the box, and poured it on His 
head and anointed His feet, as He sat at meat, and wiped 
His feet with her hair. 

And the house was filled with the odor of the oint- 
ment. 

But when His disciples saw it, there were some that 

144 



Tin-: Betrayal o* Judas. 145 

had indignation within themselves. Then saitli one 
His disciples, Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, which should 
betray Him : 

"Why was this waste of the ointment made? To 
what purpose is this waste? for this ointment might have 
been sold for more than three hundred pence, and have 
been given to the poor." 

This he said, not that he cared for the poor, but be- 
cause he w r as a thief, and had the bag, and bare what 
was put therein. 

And they murmured against her. When Jesus under- 
stood it, He said unto them, 

"Let her alone; why trouble ye the woman? For 
she hath wrought a good work upon Me. For ye have 
the poor always with you, and whensoever ye will ye 
may do them good; but Me ye have not always. For 
in that she hath poured this ointment on My body, 
she did it for My burial. She hath done what she could : 
she is come aforehand to anoint My body to the bury- 
ing; and against the day of my burying hath she kept 
this. Verily, I say unto you, Wheresoever this gospel 
shall be preached throughout the whole world, there 
shall also this, that this woman hath done, be told for 
a memorial of her/' 

Then entered Satan into Judas Iscariot, and he went 
his way unto the chief priests and captains to betray 
Him unto them, and said unto them, 

"What will ye give me, and I will betray Him unto 

you?" 
10 



146 St< >ky oi- Jesus. 

And when they heard it they were glad, and they 

covenanted with him to give him thirty pieces of silver, 
and he communed with them how he might betray Him 
unto them. 

And lie promised ; and from that time sought oppor- 
tunity to betray Him unto them, conveniently, in the 
absence of the multitude. 

Then came the first day of the feast of unleavened 
bread, when the passover must be killed : and the dis- 
ciples came to Jesus. And He sent two of His dis- 
ciples, Peter and John, saying, 

"Go and prepare us the passover, that we may eat." 

And they said unto Him, "Where wilt Thou that we 
go and prepare for Thee to eat the passover ?" 

And He said unto them : "Go ye into the city, and, 
behold, when ye are entered into the city, there shall 
a man meet you, bearing a pitcher of water; follow him 
into the house where he entereth in. And ye shall say 
unto the good man of the house : 

" 'The Master saith unto thee, My time is at band ; 
I will keep the passover at thy house. Where is the 
guest chamber where I shall eat the passover with My 
disciples?' And he shall show you a large upper room, 
furnished and prepared: there make ready for us." 

And they did as Jesus had appointed them, and went 
forth, and came into the city, and found as He had said 
unto them : and they made ready the passover. And 



Thk Betrayal ok Judas. 147 

in the evening when l the hour was come, He came and 
sat down and the twelve apostles with Him. And He 
said unto them, 

"With desire I have desired to eat this passover with 
you before I suffer : for I say unto you, I will not any 
more eat thereof, until it be fulfilled in the kingdom of 
God." 

And He took the cup, and gave thanks, and said, 

"Take this, and divide it among yourselves : for I 
say unto you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine, 
until the kingdom of God shall come." 

And there was also a strife among them, which of 
them should be accounted the greatest. And He said 
unto them : 

"The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over 
them ; and they that exercise authority upon them are 
called benefactors. But ye shall not be so : but he that 
is greatest among you, let him be as the younger; and 
he that is chief, as he that doth serve. For whether is 
greater, he that sitteth at meat, or he that serveth. Ye 
are they which have continued with Me in My tempta- 
tions. And I appoint unto you a kingdom, as My Father 
hath appointed unto Me: that ye may eat and drink at 
My table in My kingdom, and sit on thrones judging 
the twelve tribes of Israel. " 

Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus 
knew that His hour was come that He should depart 



148 



Story of Jgsus. 



out of this world unto the Father, having loved His own 
which were in the world, He loved them unto the end. 

And at the supper, the devil having now put into 
the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, to betray Him ; 
Jesus knowing that the Father had given all things into 
His hands, and that He was come from God, and went 
to God ; He rose from supper, and laid aside His gar- 
ments ; and took a towel, and girded Himself. 

After that He poured water into a basin, and began 
to wash the disciples' feet, and to wipe them with the 
towel wherewith He was girded. Then cometh He to 
Simon Peter : and Peter said unto Him, 

''Lord, dost Thou wash my feet?" 

Jesus answered, and said unto him, "What I do thou 
knowest not now ; but thou shalt know hereafter. " 

Peter saith unto Him, "Thou shalt never wash my 
feet." 

Jesus answered him, "If I wash thee not, thou hast 
no part with Me." 

Simon Peter saith unto Him, "Lord, not my feet 
only, but also my hands and my head." 

Jesus saith unto him, "He that is washed needeth not 
save to wash his feet, but is clean every whit; and ye 
arc clean, but not all." 

For He knew who should betray Him ; therefore 
said He, 

"Ye are not all clean." 

So after He had washed their feet, and had taken 



The Betrayal o* Judas, 149 

His garments, and was sat down again, He said unto 
them : 

"Know ye what I have done to you? Ye call Me 
'Master' and 'Lord:' and ye say well; for so I am. If 
I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet; 
ye also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have 
given you an example, that ye should do as I have 
done to you. Verily, verily, I say unto you, the servant 
is not greater than his lord ; neither he that is sent 
greater than He that sent Him. If ye know these 
things, happy are ye if ye do them. I speak not of 
you all : I know 'whom I have chosen : but that the 
Scripture may be fulfilled, 

" 'He that eateth bread with Me hath lifted up his 
heel against Me/ 

"Now I tell you before it come, that, when it is come 
to pass, ye may believe that I am He. Verily, verily, 
I say unto you, He that receiveth whomsoever I send 
receiveth Me; and he that receiveth Me receiveth Him 
that sent Me." 

When Jesus had thus said, as they sat and did eat, 
He was troubled in spirit, and testified, and said, "Verily, 
verily, I say unto you, that one of you which eateth with 
Me, shall betray Me. Behold, the hand of Him that 
betrayeth Me is with Me on the table." 

Then the disciples looked one on another, doubting 
of whom He spake. And they began to be exceeding 
sorrowful, and to inquire among themselves which of 



I5 o Story of Jesus. 

them it was who should do this thing; and to say unto 
Him every one of them, ne by one, 
"Lord, is it I ?" 
And another said, "Is it I?" 

And He answered and said unto them, "It is one 
of the twelve that dippeth his hand with Me in the 
dish ; the same shall betray Me. And truly the Son of 
man goeth, as it was determined, and as it is written 
of Him ; but woe unto that man by whom the Son of 
man is betrayed! It had been good for that man if 
he had never been born." 

Now there was leaning on Jesus' bosom one of His 
disciples, whom Jesus loved. Simon Peter therefore 
beckoned to him, that he should ask who it should be 
of whom He spake. He then lying on Jesus' breast 
saith unto Him, 

"Lord, who is it ?" 

Jesus answered, "He it is, to whom I shall give a 
sop, when I have dipped it." 

And when He had dipped the sop, He gave it to 
Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon. 

And after the sop Satan entered into him. Then 
Judas, which betrayed Him, answered and said, 
"Master, is it I ?" 

He said unto him, "Thou hast said." 
Then Jesus said unto him, "That thou doest, do 

quickly." 

Now no man at the table knew for what intent He 



Tin*. r.KTk w \i. oi- Judas. 151 

spake this unto him. For some of them thought be- 
cause Judas had the bag, that Jesus had said unto him, 

"Buy those things that we have need of against the 

feast/' or that he should give something to the poor. 

He then, having received the sop, went immediately 
out : and it was night. 

When therefore Judas was gone out, Jesus said : 

"Now is the Son of man glorified, and God is glori- 
fied in Him. If God be glorified in Him, God shall 
also glorify Him in Himself and shall straightway glorify 
Him. Little children, yet a little while I am with you. 
Ye shall ask me: and as I said unto the Jews, 'Whither 
I go, ye can not come :' so now I say to you. A new 
commandment I give unto you, That ye love one an- 
other; as I have loved you, that ye also love one an- 
other. By this shall all men know that ye are my dis- 
ciples, if ye have love one to another." 

Simon Peter said unto Him, "Lord, whither goest 
Thou?" 

Jesus answered him, "Whither I go, thou canst not 
follow Me now 7 ; but thou shalt follow Me afterwards." 

Peter said unto Him, "Lord, why can not I follow 
Thee now ? I will lay down my life for Thy sake." 

Then said Jesus unto them : 

"All ye shall be offended because of Me this night ; 
for it is written, 'I will smite the shepherd, and the sheep 
of the flock shall be scattered abroad.' But after that 
I am risen again, I will go before you into Galilee." 



152 Story or Jesi 

But Peter answered and said unto Him, "Though all 
men should be offended because of Thee, yet will I never 
be offended/ 1 

And the Lord said, "Simon, Simon, behold, Satan 
hath desired to have thee that he may sift thee as wheat : 
but I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and 
when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren. " 

And he said unto Him, "Lord, I am ready to go with 
Thee, both into prison, and to death." 

And Jesus saith unto him, "Wilt thou lay down thy 
life for My sake? Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Peter, 
that this day, even this night, before the cock crow twice, 
thou shalt thrice deny that thou knowest Me." 

But Peter spake the more vehemently, "Though I 
should die with thee, yet will I not deny thee in any 
wise." 

Likewise also said all the disciples. 

And He said unto them, "When I sent you without 
purse, and scrip, and shoes, lacked ye anything?" 

And they said, "Nothing." 

Then said He unto them : "But now he that hath a 

rse, let him take it, and likewise his scrip : and he 
that hath no sword, let him sell his garment, and buy 
one. For I say unto you, that this that is written must 
yet be accomplished in Me, 'And He was reckoned 
among the transgressors :' for the things concerning Me 
have an end." 

And the} said, "Lord, behold, here are two swords." 



Tin; BETRAV \i. i >r J in \s. 153 

And (when Jesus saw that the}- did not understand 

that He meant not a real steel sword, but t! »rd 

of the Spirit, which is the Word of God) He said unto 
them, "It is enough." 

And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and 
blessed it, and gave thanks, and when He had given 
thanks, He brake it, and gave it to the disciples, and 
said, 

"Take, eat : this is My body which is given for you : 
this do in remembrance of Me." 

And He took likewise also the cup after supper, and 
gave thanks, and when He had given thanks, He gave 
it to them, saying unto them : 

"Drink ye all of it ; for this is My blood of the New 
Testament, which is shed for you and for many for the 
remission of sins : this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in 
remembrance of Me. But verily I say unto you, I will 
not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine, until that 
day when I drink it new with you in My Father's king- 
dom." 

And they all drank of it. 

Then Jesus talked a long time with His disciples, 
speaking to them the fourteenth, fifteenth, and sixteenth 
chapters of John. Then He prayed for them the beauti- 
ful prayer in the seventeenth of John. 

And when Jesus had spoken these words, and they 
had sung an hymn, He came out with His disciples, 
and went, as He was wont, over the brook Cedron into 



154 Story of Jesus. 

the Mount of Olives ; and His disciples also followed 
Him. And they came to a garden which was named 
Gethsemane, into which He entered, and His disciples. 
And when He was at the place, He saith unto His dis- 
ciples, 

'Tray that ye enter not into temptation. Sit ye 
here, while I go and pray yonder." 

And He took with Him Peter, and James and John, 
the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be sorrowful, and 
to be very heavy. Then saith He unto them, 

"My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death: 
tarry ye here, and watch with Me." 

And He went forward a little, and was withdrawn 
from them about a stone's cast, and kneeled down on 
the ground, and fell on His face, and prayed that, if it 
were possible, the hour might pass from Him, 

And He said, "O My Father, if it be possible (and 
all things are possible unto Thee), and if Thou be will- 
ing, remove this cup from Me : nevertheless not as I will, 
but as Thou wilt; not My will, but Thine, be done." 

And there appeared an angel unto Him from heaven, 
strengthening Him. And being in an agony He prayed 
more earnestly : and His sweat was as it were great 
drops of blood falling down to the ground. And when 
He rose up from prayer, and was come to His disciples, 
He found them sleeping for sorrow, and said unto Peter : 

"Simon, sleepest thou? Why sleep ye? What, could 



The Betrayal o* Judas. 155 

ye not watch with Me one hour? Watch ye and pray, 
lest ye enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is will- 
ing, but the flesh is weak/' 

And He went away again the second time, and prayed, 
and spake the same words, saying, 

"O My Father, if this cup may not pass away from 
Me, except I drink it, Thy will be done." 

And He came and found them asleep again ; for their 
eyes were heavy, neither wist they what to answer Him. 
And He left them and went away again, and prayed the 
third time, saying the same words. 

Then cometh He to His disciples the third time, and 
saith unto them : 

''Sleep on now, and take your rest; behold, it is 
enough, the hour is come, and the Son of man is be- 
trayed into the hands of sinners. Rise up, let us be 
going: behold, he is at hand that doth betray Me." 

And Judas also, which betrayeth Him, knew the 
place ; for Jesus ofttimes resorted thither with His dis- 
ciples. Judas then, having received a band of men and 
officers from the chief priests and Pharisees, cometh 
thither with lanterns and torches and weapons. 

And immediately while Jesus yet spake, lo, Judas, 
one of the twelve, came, and with him a great multitude 
with swords and staves, from the chief priests and the 
scribes, and the elders of the people : and Judas went 
before them. 



156 Story <>f Jesus. 

Jesus therefore, knowing all things that should come 
upon Him, went forth, and said unto them, 

"Whom seek ye?" 

They answered Him, "JestlS of Nazareth." 

Jesus saith unto them, "I am He." 

And Judas also, which betrayed Him, stood with 
them. 

As soon then as He said unto them, "I am He," they 
went backward, and fell to the ground. 

Then asked He them again, "Whom seek ye?" 

And they said, "Jesus °'f Nazareth." 

Jesus answered, "I have told you that I am He : if 
therefore ye seek Me, let these go their way:" that the 
saying might be fulfilled, which He spake, 

"Of them which Thou gavest Me have I lost none." 

Now he that betrayed Him had given them a sign, 
saying, 

"Whomsoever I shall kiss, that same is He ; take Him, 
and hold Him fast and lead Him away safely." 

And as soon as he was come, he goeth straightway 
to Jesus to kiss Him, and said, 

"Hail, Master;" and kissed Him. 

And Jesus said unto him : "Friend, wherefore art 
thou come? Judas, betrayest thou the Son of man with 
a kiss?" 

Then came they and laid their hands on Jesus, and 
took Him. 



Thk Betrayal of Judas, 157 

Judas was the one bad man among the twelve dis- 
ciples of Jesus. 

He was not frank and outspoken like Peter; or loving 
like John; or honest and true like the others; he was 
wicked from the first. But he was smart, and the dis- 
ciples made him their treasurer, and he often stole from 
the treasury for himself. 

He loved money, and he did not love Jesus. 

So we see that "Judas was n't a real disciple. He 
was only a make-believe disciple. He only went with 
the others because he was the treasurer, and carried the 
money, and could sometimes steal some for himself. 

"Little children who are like Jesus, and have given 
their hearts to Him, go to Sunday-school because they 
love Him, and not for the pretty paper, or the nice 
music, or even because they love the teacher." 

A poor little boy, invited to a meeting, asked, "Is 
there anything to stuff ?" He was like Judas; he would 
go if there was anything to eat, anything to be gained 
by going. 

A boy was once sent on an errand by his mother, and 
was told not to go by a certain way, so as to meet a com- 
panion whom she wished to keep from his company. 

The boy was disobedient, and did the very thing 
against which his mother had warned him. 

On his return, he clung round his mother's neck, and 
kissed her with special lovingness. 



158 Story <>i ; Jesus. 

This led her to think that he had been obedient 
against his own wishes, and was feeling the reward of 
obedience in an increased love for his mother. 

Whereas he was, in this way, trying to cover up his 
disobedience and to assure his mother that he had com- 
plied with her commands. 

This boy was on the way to the sin of Judas, betraying 
Jesus with a kiss. As my sister, Mrs. L. M. Pate, says: 

"People never get to be thieves and murderers like 
Judas all in a minute. They grow wicked little by little. 

"I do n't doubt Judas began by taking money from 
his mother's purse, or staying out nights when she 
wanted him at home, or tormenting the dog and teas- 
ing his little brothers, or being angry when he was pun- 
ished. 

"I am sure Judas was a bad boy ; for the good boy 
is almost sure to be a good man. The boy who 
sometimes goes without his candy to save the money 
for the missionaries, that is always loving to his baby 
sister, that would not be cruel even to a fly, will never 
be a Judas. 

"The girl who darns mamma's stocking at a penny 
a hole to earn some money to send to the Indians, 
who always obeys her father, who is gentle and patient 
and loving, will never get to be like Judas. 

"We want to be careful about the little sins, and then 
we shall never have to repent of any big ones. 



Tin-: BETRAYAL ok Judas. 159 

"A little boy five years old was converted. He had 
been used to take a little sugar out of the bowl in the 
morning" after his mother had left the dining-room. 

"When he had given his heart to Jesus, he did not 
want to do it, and as the thought came to him, and he 
was afraid he would, he called to his mother, 'Mamma, 
come quickly/ 

"She ran to the room, fearing he was hurt. Then 
he said, Tut the sugar-bowl up high where I can 't 
get it/ 

"When she had done so, he said, 'Now, mamma, let 
us pray, Lead us not into temptation/ 

"If all little children would be as quick to resist evil 
as little Willie was they would never betray Jesus/' 

Judas or Jesus, which will you be like, little one? 
I am sure you are saying, "Jesus." 



Tm: Crucifixion. 161 

crying aloud began to desire him to do as he had i 
done unto them. But Pilate answered them, saying, 

"Ye have a custom, that I should release unto you 
one at the passover. Whom will ye therefore that I 
release unto you? Barabbas or Jesus which is called 
Christ, the King of the Jews?" 

For he knew that the chief priests had delivered Him 
for envy. 

And they cried out all at once, saying, "Not this man, 
but Barabbas. Away with this Man, and release unto 
us Sambas/* 

Pilate therefore, willing to release Jesus, answered 
and said again unto them, 

"What will ye then that I shall do with Jesus which 
is called Christ, the King of the Jews?" 

But they all cried out and said unto him again, "Let 
Him be crucified. Crucify Him, crucify Him !" 

Then Pilate said unto them again : "Why, what evil 
hath He done? I have found no cause of death in Him: 
I will therefore chastise Him, and let Him go." 

But they cried out the more exceedingly, saying, 
"Let Him be crucified. Crucify Him." 

Then Pilate therefore took Jesus, and scourged Him, 

and delivered Him to be crucified. Then the soldiers 

of the governor led Jesus away into the common hall 

called Prsetorium ; and gathered unto Him the whole 

band of soldiers. And they stripped Him, and put on 

Him a scarlet robe. And when they had platted a crown 
ii 



162 Story of Jesus. 

of thorns, they put it upon His head, and a reed in His 
right hand, and mocked Him, saying, 
"Hail, King of the Jews!" 

And they did spit upon Him, and bowing their knees 
worshiped Him, and took the reed, and smote Him on 
the head with the reed, and with their hands. 

And after that they had mocked Jesus, they took the 
robe off from Him, and put His own raiment on Him, 
and took Him and led Him away to crucify Him. And 
as they came out, and led Him away, He bearing His 
cross, they found a man of Cyrene, Simon by name, 
who passed by, coming out of the country, the father 
of Alexander and Rufus : and they laid hold upon him 
and on him they laid the cross and compelled him that 
he might bear it after Jesus. 

And there followed Him a great company of people, 
and of women, which also bewailed and lamented Him. 
But Jesus turning unto them, said, 

"Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for Me, but 
weep for yourselves, and for your children." 

And there were also two others, malefactors, led with 
Him to be put to death. And they brought Him unto 
the place which is called Calvary, or in the Hebrew, 
Golgotha, which is, being interpreted, "The place of a 

skull. ,, 

And when they came to the place, they gave Him 
to drink vinegar mingled with gall : but when He had 
tasted thereof, He would not drink. 



The Crucifixion. 163 

And it was the third hour, and there they crucified 
Him. And with Him were crucified the two thieves ; the 
one on His right hand, and the other on His left ; on 
either side one, and Jesus in the midst. 

And the Scripture was fulfilled which saith, "And lie 
was numbered with the transgressors/' 

Then said Jesus, "Father, forgive them ; for they 
know not what they do." 

Then the soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus, took 
His garments and made four parts, to every soldier a 
part ; and also His coat ; now the coat was without seam, 
woven from the top throughout. They said therefore 
among themselves, 

"Let us not rend it, but cast lots for it, whose it 
shall be:" that the Scripture might be fulfilled which 
saith, 

"They parted My raiment among them, and for My 
vesture they did cast lots." 

These things therefore the soldiers did, casting lots 
upon them, what every man should take. And sitting 
down they watched Him there. 

And Pilate wrote a title, and put it up over His head 
on the cross, His accusation. And the superscription 
of his accusation was written in letters of Hebrew and 
Greek and Latin. And the writing was, 

" THIS IS JESUS OF NAZARETH, 
THE KING OF THE JEWS." 



164 Story of Jesus. 

This title then read many of the Jews : for the place 
where Jesus was crucified was nigh to the city. Then 
said the chief priests of the Jews to Pilate, 

"Write not, 'The King of the Jews ;' but that He said, 
'I am King of the Jews/ " 

Pilate answered, "What I have written I have writ- 
ten." 

And they that passed by reviled Jesus, wagging their 
heads and saying: 

"Ah, Thou that destroyeth the temple, and buildest 
it in three days, save Thyself. If Thou be the Son of 
God, come clown from the cross." 

And the people stood beholding. And the rulers also 
with them derided Him ; likewise also the chief priests 
mocking Him, with the scribes and elders, said among 
themselves, 

"He saved others ; Himself He can not save. If He 
be Christ, the King of Israel, and the chosen of God, 
let Him now come down from the cross : let Him save 
Himself, that we may see, and we will believe Him. 
He trusted in God ; let Him deliver Him now, if He 
will have Him : for He said, 'I am the Son of God/ " 

And the soldiers also mocked Him, coming to Him, 
and offering Him vinegar, and saying, 

"If Thou be the King of the Jews, save Thyself." 

And one of the malefactors which were crucified with 
Him, cast the same in his teeth, and reviled Him, and 
railed on I Km, saying, 

"If Thou be Christ, save Thyself and us." 



Tin: Cki viiixi. .\. 

But the other answering rebuked him, saying, 

"Dost not thou fear God, seeing thou art in the same 
condemnation? And we indeed justly; for we receive 
the due reward of our deeds; but this Man hath done 
nothing amiss. " 

And he said unto Jesus, "Lord, remember me when 
Thou comest into Thy kingdom/' 

And Jesus said unto him, "Verily I say unto thee, 
To-day shalt thou be with Me in paradise. " 

Now there stood by the cross of Jesus, His mother, 
and His mother's sister, Mary the wife of Cleopas, and 
Mary Magdalene. When Jesus therefore saw His 
mother, and the disciple standing by whom He loved, 
He saith unto His mother, 

"Woman, behold thy Son I" 

Then saith He unto the disciple, " Behold thy 
mother ! " 

And from that hour that disciple took her unto his 
own home. 

And when the sixth hour was come, there was a 
darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour, and 
the sun was darkened. And at the ninth hour Jesus 
cried with a loud voice, saying, 

"Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani !" (which is, being in- 
terpreted, "My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken 
Me?") And some of them that stood by when they 
heard it, said, 

"Behold, He calleth for Elijah." 



i66 Story of Jesus. 

After this, Jesus knowing that all things were now 
accomplished, that the Scripture might be fulfilled, saith, 

"I thirst." 

Now there was set a vessel full of vinegar: and 
straightway one of them ran, and took a sponge, and 
filled it full of vinegar, and put it on a reed upon hyssop, 
and gave Him to drink. The rest said, 

"Let alone ; let us see whether Elijah will come to 
take Him down, and save Rim." When Jesus there- 
fore had received the vinegar, He said, 

"It is finished." 

And when He had cried again with a loud voice, He 
said, 

"Father, into Thy hands I commend My spirit I" 

And having said thus, He bowed His head, and gave 
up the ghost. 

And behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain 
in the midst, from the top to the bottom ; and the earth 
did quake, and the rocks were rent ; and the graves were 
opened ; and many bodies of the saints which slept 
arose, and came out of the graves after His resurrection, 
and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many. 

Now, when the centurion which stood over against 
Him, and they that were with him, watching Jesus, saw 
t hat He so cried out, and gave up the ghost; and saw 
the earth quake, and those things that were done, they 
feared greatly : and the centurion glorified God, saying, 

"Certainly this was a righteous Man. Truly this 
man was the Son of God." 



Tin: Crucifixion. 167 

This story of Jesus on the CTOSS dying for our sins 

was told one day to a poor little Indian girl who came 
to the mission. 

Her tears fell fast, and looking up into her teacher's 
face she said, 

"Me never want to be naughty any more/' 

Touched by the story of love, she resolved never to 
grieve such a Lover, and after that she was always her 
teacher's best helper and a great blessing to the mission. 

She grew up to be a good woman and a blessed 
worker among her own sex in the Indian mission. 

No man or martyr ever suffered as Jesus did on the 
night of His betrayal and in the midday darkness of 
His crucifixion. 

Think of the awful agony in the garden when as it 
were great drops of blood fell down to the ground. 

Think of the merciless Roman scourge, not just the 
Jewish scourge of thirty-nine stripes, but the pitiless 
lashing of perhaps a hundred stripes, that tore all the 
flesh from His back and breast and arms, and with 
the cruel thorns, and mocking blows, left His face more 
marred than any man's. 

Think of the thirst and torture and fever and faint- 
ness of the cross, without the soothing drink the thieves 
beside Him had, which dulled their pain and helped 
them to bear it. 

But this was not the greatest suffering Jesus bore. 

We can not understand it, but the Bible says that 



168 Story of Jesus. 

He was made a curse for us, that the Lord laid on 
Him the sins of the whole world, and He was punished 
for them. 

Think of the hiding of the Father's face, the loss of 
the consciousness of that Father's love, for God's pure 
eyes could not look with favor upon Jesus while He was 
bearing our sins. 

They taunted Jesus on the cross, saying, "He saved 
others, Himself He can not save." 

In one way they told the truth. 

We can not keep what we give. He could not save 
Himself and save sinners. 

Man sold himself to Satan in< the Garden of Eden. 

Satan is the author of death. The wages of sin is 
death. 

God offered to buy man back from Satan. 

Satan's price was the life of the Son of God. 

So nothing could save us but the sacrifice of Jesus. 

One dark, stormy night Geordie Wilson was awak- 
ened by a cry of distress. Going down to the beach, 
he heard, above the sound of the roaring waters, "Help ! 
help ! we perish ! O save us." He wakened his neigh- 
bors, but seeing the mountain of water, and foreseeing 
danger and death, they said, "We dare not venture." 

But through the raging storm came the piteous cry, 
"Save us! save us !" 

Then Wilson cried out : "Men, brethren, dare you in 



TiiK CrI CItflXION. 169 

God's sight say that you can not, that yon will not, 
make the attempt to save those perishing ones, after all 
God has done for yon? Were not yon and I once like 
that ill-fated vessel yonder? Wrecked, body and soul, 
lost through sin, and rapidly sinking into the bottomless 
sea of an awful eternity ? And did not God hear our cry 
for help, and in our utter helplessness and despair stretch 
forth His own arm and save us with a mighty salva- 
tion that cost the blood of the only Son of His bosom? 
Did He not freely give Him up for us? 'Hereby per- 
ceive we the love of God because He laid down His 
life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the 
brethren/ This is His own Word. He not only risked 
His life, but gave it, to rescue and save you and me. 
And shall we now refuse to risk our lives to save others ?" 

Then there came surging up from that awed crowd 
a chorus of voices, Trying : "No! no! We will! we will! 
God helping us, we '11 brave the storm. Christ died 
for us, and we will risk our lives to save them." 

The lifeboat, manned by a sturdy band of godly 
fishermen, made its perilous way over the raging billows, 
and Geordie Wilson, w T ith a sailor's daring, swung him- 
self on board the sinking ship. The whole crew and 
their rescuers were safe in the lifeboat, all except Geordie 
and one other seaman, when the terrible cry came from 
the crowded boat, 

"Only room for one, or we shall all perish I" 



170 Story of Jesus. 

Looking at the seaman, whose face Wilson had never 
seen before, and would never see again, until they met 
in eternity, he said, calmly but firmly, 

"Quick, friend! jump this moment, and you'll be 
saved ! I am safe, and shall soon land on the golden 
shore ; meet me again there." 

As the lifeboat moved off with its living freight, 
Geordie shouted through the storm, 

"Tell my wife to be comforted, for I shall be safe 
in Calvary's lifeboat, " and they heard him singing: 

" Jesus, Lover of my soul, 

Let me to Thy bosom fly, 
While the nearer waters roll, 

While the tempest still is high ; 
Hide me, O my Savior, hide, 

Till the storm of life is past ; 
Safe into the haven guide, 

O receive my soul at last ! ' ' 

Geordie Wilson had saved others. He could not 
save himself. 

Jesus did not die because He could not help Him- 
self, but because He loved us. Twelve legions of angels 
were all about Him, ready to take Him away from those 
that hated Him, if He would only speak the word. But 
He loved us a thousand times more than He loved His 
life, so He gave His life for us. 

A little infant scholar listened one Lord's-day to the 
story of Jesus on the cross. The child understood some- 



The Crucifixion. 171 

thing of the suffering of the Savior, and that it was for 
her, but the only words she remembered were, 

"He bowed His head and died." 

That night in her dreams her mother heard her sob 
as she repeated, 

"He bowed His head and died." 

The child had a strong will, and when she once re- 
fused to do anything, they could not move her. One 
Lord's-day her teacher told her to do something, but 
she refused. 

"Will you not do it because you love me?" she asked 
the little one. The child shook her head. 

"Will you not do it because it is right?" Again she 
stubbornly refused. 

"Will you not do it for Jesus?" 

The child's lip quivered, she threw herself on her face 
at her teacher's feet, and sobbed out, 

"O, I will do it for Jesus, because He bowed His 
head and died." 

It always helps us to do right when we think of the 
cross and how our Savior suffered on it. 

All that was necessary for our salvation God and 
Christ and the Holy Spirit have done. 

God gave Jesus, His only beloved Son ; then Jesus 
died and rose and ascended, and sent the Holy Spirit 
to whisper to our heiarts that God loves us and Jesus 
died for us. 




THE RESURRECTION. 



Jesus is risen, let mortals adore Him, 
Risen in power, Almighty to save; 

Enemies falter and perish before Him, 

Conqueror of Satan, of Sin, and the Grave. 



M W. K.NAPP 



Chapter XV. 
THE RESURRECTION. 

A CHRISTIAN gentleman stood before an art store, 
looking at a picture of the crucifixion. A poor boy 
approached, and gazed also at the picture. The gentle- 
man turned to the boy, and said, pointing to the picture, 

"Do you know who it is?" 

"Yes," was the quick reply, "that 's our Savior." 

Then with a mingled look of pity and surprise that 
the man did not know what the picture represented, and 
a desire to enlighten him further, he continued, 

"Them 's the soldiers, the Roman soldiers," and, with 
a deep sigh, "that woman crying is His mother." 

He waited a moment for further questioning, then 
thrust his hand in his pockets, and with a reverent, sub- 
dued voice, added, 

"They killed Him, Mister. Yes, sir, they killed Him !" 

The gentleman looked at the dirty, ragged, little fel- 
low, and asked, 

"Where did you learn this?" 

"At the mission school." 

The gentleman resumed his walk, leaving the boy 

looking at the picture. He had not gone a block when 

he heard a childish voice crying, 

"Mister! say, Mis-ter!" 

i73 



174 Story of Jesus. 

He turned. The boy raised his little hand, and, in a 
triumphant tone, shouted, 

"I wanted to tell you He rose again! Yes, Mister, 
He rose again." 

His message delivered, he smiled, waved his hand, 
and went his way. 

The boy was right. Only three days and three nights 
the Lord Jesus lay in the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea. 

Then the angel of the Lord descended from heaven, 
and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and 
sat upon it. His countenance was like lightning, and 
his raiment white as snow: and for fear of him the 
keepers did shake, and became as dead men. 

And in the end of the Sabbath, very early in the 
morning on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene 
and the other Mary came into the sepulcher as it began 
to dawn, but when it was yet dark, bringing the spices 
which they had prepared, and certain others with them. 
And they said among themselves, 

"Who shall roll us away the stone from the door of 
the sepulcher ?" (for it was very great.) 

And when they looked, they saw that the stone was 
rolled away from the sepulcher. 

And they entered in, and found not the body of the 
Lord Jesus. Then Mary Magdalene ran and came to 
Simon Peter, and to the other disciple whom Jesus 
loved, and saith unto them, 

"They have taken away the Lord out of the sepulcher, 
and we know not where they have laid Him." 



L 



Tiik Resurrection. 175 

And they that remained at the sepulcher were much 
perplexed, and entering again into the sepulcher, they 
saw two young men sitting on the right side clothed 
in long white shining garments : and they were afraid : 
and as the women bowed down their faces to the earth, 
the men answered and said unto them : 

"Be not ye affrighted ; for we know that ye seek 
Jesus of Nazareth, which was crucified. Why seek ye 
the living among the dead? He is not here, but He is 
risen, as He said. Remember how He spake unto you 
when He was yet in Galilee, saying, 'The Son of man 
must be delivered unto the hands of sinful men, and be 
crucified, and the third day rise again.' Come see the 
place where they laid Him. And go your way quickly, 
and tell His disciples and Peter, that He is risen from 
the dead, and that He goeth before you into Galilee; 
there shall ye see Him as He said unto you : lo, we have 
told you." 

In Egypt, they tell us, is a beautiful plant called "the 
resurrection flower." Those who have seen it say that 
it is a little ball hanging on a fragile stem, in color and 
shape like a shrunken poppy head. Sleeping, but not 
dead, the flower is aroused by being put in water, and 
then supported in an upright position. Soon the fibers 
begin to stir. Slowly they open, until, with petals thrown 
back, it becomes a beautiful starry flower, like an aster. 
Resting a moment, it throws its very heart to the day- 
light, and curving back its petals, discloses beauties un- 



176 Story of Jesus. 

dreamed of in the loveliness of its first awakening. If a 
wee, fragile flower be capable of disclosing such rare 
beauty, bow glorious must have been the resurrection 
body of our Lord Jesus ! 

And His resurrection teaches us that, though the 
body be destroyed, the spirit does not die. God put 
life into the body, and when it dies the life goes back to 
Him. The body may crumble to dust, but the spirit is 
safe with Him. 

You have seen how the dry, brown, apparently dead 
bulb is placed in the earth and covered with the dark 
soil. After a time tiny green shoots appear, the first 
sign of a new life. Then these little shoots begin to 
grow, increasing in size and strength until they form a 
beautiful plant, which bears a sweet, pure, white flower. 

The little bulb was only sleeping after all, as one 
dear little girl thought, who, dropping a lily bulb into 
the ground, and carefully covering it, said, 

"I 've put it to bed, and tucked it up ; I '11 come some 
morning and find its eyes open." 

So the dead bodies of our friends laid in the dark 
grave will not remain there. When Jesus comes He 
will break the bands of death, and they will rise in the 
beauty and splendor of His resurrection life. 

And the thought of the resurrection is one comfort 
for those whose friends have died. 

Some one tells a beautiful story of how the sunshine, 



Tin-: Resurrection. 177 

for the first time in months, one Easter morning touched 

the ragged walks and garbage-boxes of Pearl Alley, in 
a wicked city. 

As the sun went on its bright way, it reached a 
narrow, dingy-paned window where bloomed one poor, 
pale, little rose. The rose belonged to the Mulligans. 

This morning Mrs. Mulligan kept stopping to I 
at and turn it round and round. At last she said, finger- 
ing the stem with her brown fingers, 

"Do you think you could give up the rose, Patsy ?" 

Patsy was her little, sick boy, who loved the rose 
dearly. 

The child looked up with a startled air. "Give up 
the rose, mother? What for?" 

"For the dead baby upstairs. Its poor mother is 
heartbroken because she has no money to pay for the 
burial. I thought the rose would look pretty in its 
little hand." 

"O, yes, mother, give it to her." But a look of pain 
swept the pale little face as the stem snapped. 

"Will it kill the bush, mother? Will there ever be 
another?" 

"I do n't know. What 's done is done ;" and Mrs. 
Mulligan climbed the stairs, and placed the rose in the 
little, white hand. The mother's aching heart was com- 
forted. 

Patsy tried not to miss the rose, and when his mother 
12 



i7 8 Story ok Jksus. 

came down, they began talking about Margaret, Patsy's 
sister, who played a tambourine on the street for monev. 

While Patsy and his mother were talking about 
Margaret, she was resting on the steps of a great, stone 
church. As she listened to the organ, she fell asleep. 

When she awoke, there stood before her a little girl 
with pink cheeks, shining brown eyes, and hair tied with 
crisp ribbons. 

"We're going to have Sunday-school now. Won't 
you come?" 

Margaret shook her head. She did not know what 
Sunday-school meant. 

"Then wait a minute/' said the pretty stranger. 

Before Margaret could answer, she was back, carrying 
a potted hyacinth, whose drooping, white bells shook 
out rare fragrance. 

"It is for you," she said. "There are flowers for all 
the children to-day." 

Margaret took it, half afraid, then ran home, and 
burst into the room, her cheeks glowing and her eyes 
shining. 

"O Patsy, did you ever see anything like this? It's 
to set beside the rose — why—" and she looked blankly 
at the shorn bush. 

"Mither sent it away, the dead baby upstairs," ex- 
plained Patsy. 

"But this is a thousand times better. And here's 
a beautiful card, Marget, stiekin' in among the leaves." 



The Resurrection. 179 

The mother took the card, and read: 

"I am the resurrection and the life : he thait believeth 
in Me, though he were dead, yet shall he live." 

"It's somethin' out of the Bible," she said; "I be- 
lieve I '11 take it up to that poor woman upstairs. Mebbe 
it '11 comfort her heart a little that 's so sore about her 
baby." 

So she took the beautiful Bible word about the resur- 
rection up to the heartbroken mother, and she was com- 
forted. 



Chapter XVI. 
THE ASCENSION. 

IMMEDIATELY after Jesus rose He spoke to Mary 
Magdalene in the garden, then He went away to His 
heavenly home; but He came back to earth many times, 
and appeared to His friends during the forty days be- 
fore His final ascension. 

Jesus appeared first to Mary Magdalene, who loved 
Him very much because He had cast out of her seven 
demons. She saw Him first because she was in the 
garden when He arose. (Mark xvi, 9; John xx, 11-18.) 

Jesus appeared next to the other women who went 
to the tomb to embalm Him, and said to them, 

"All hail !" 

And when they fell down at His feet and worshiped 
Him, he said, kindly and tenderly, 

"Be not afraid : go tell my brethren that they go into 
Galilee, and there shall they see Me." Matt, xxviii, 9, 10.) 

Jesus appeared to two disciples, on the way to Em- 
maus, and walked and talked with them. (Mark vi, 12, 
13; Luke xxiv, 13-35.) 

Jesus appeared to Simon Peter all alone, to give him 
a chance to put his arms around Him, and tell Him how 
sorry he was that he had denied Him, and ask His for- 
giveness. (Luke x, 34; 1 Cor. xv, 5.) 

180 




THE ASCENSION. 

(DORE.) 



Tiik Ascension. 181 

Jesus appeared to the disciples gathered in an upper 
room with the door locked for fear of the Jews. (Mark 
xvi, 14-18; Luke iv, 36-49; John xx, 19-23.) 

Jesus appeared to eleven of the disciples one week- 
later in the same upper room, Thomas being with them 
this time. (John xx, 24-29.) 

Jesus appeared to seven of His disciples who were 
fishing on the Sea of Galilee, and prepared a breakfast 
for them. 

Here it was that Jesus said three times to Peter, who 
had denied Him three times, "Lovest thou Me?" and 
three times Peter said, "Lord, Thou knowest that I love 
Thee ! w 

And Jesus said, "Feed My sheep." 

Jesus appeared to over five hundred brethren in a 
mountain in Galilee. (Matt, xxviii, 16-20; 1 Cor. xv, 6.) 

Jesus appeared all alone to James, perhaps because 
he was to be the first martyr of the twelve, and Jesus 
wished to prepare him for his great trial. (1 Cor. xv, 7.) 

Jesus appeared to the eleven in Jerusalem, and com- 
manded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, 
but wait for the promise of the Father, "which/' saith He, 
"ye have heard of Me. For John truly baptized with 
water ; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not 
many days hence." 

When the disciples and Jesus were together at Jeru- 
salem, they asked Him, saying, 

"Lord, wilt Thou at this time restore again the king- 
dom of Israel?" 



182 Story of Jesus. 

And He said unto them, 

"It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, 
which the Father hath put in His own power. But, be- 
hold, I send the promise of My Father upon you : and 
ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Spirit is come 
upon vou : and ye shall witness unto Me both in Jerusa- 
lem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and into the utter- 
most part of the earth. But tarry ye in the city of Jeru- 
salem, until ye be endued with the power from on high." 

After the Lord had spoken these things unto them, 
He led them out as far as Bethany, and He lifted up 
His hands, and blessed them. And it came to pass while 
He blessed them, He was parted from them ; and while 
they beheld, He was carried up into heaven, and sat on 
the right hand of God. 

And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as 
He went up, behold two men stood by them in white 
apparel ; which also said, 

"Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into 
heaven? This same Jesus which is taken up from you 
into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have 
seen Him go into heaven. ,, 

Then they worshiped Him, and with great joy re- 
turned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which 
is from Jerusalem a Sabbath-day's journey; and were 
continually in the temple, praising and blessing God. 

And they went forth, and preached everywhere, the 



Tin: Ascension. 183 

Lord working with them, confirming the word with signs 
following. 

Though in His body Jesus is up in heaven at the 
right hand of God, on His Father's throne, yet He is 
as truly with us as if our bodily eyes could behold Him, 
because He can see us and sympathize with us all the 
time. 

When Charles the Pretender was in Scotland with 
his highland clans, a sore battle was waged at Preston- 
pans. During the conflict, at a most critical point, the 
chief of the noble house of MacGregor fell, wounded by 
two balls. Seeing their beloved leader fall, the clan 
wavered, and the battle was well-nigh lost. 

The brave old chieftain, seeing the effect of his dis- 
aster, raised himself up on his elbow, the blood gushing 
in streams from his side, and cried out in the old voice 
they had been wont to obey, 

"I am not dead, my children; I am looking at you 
to see you do your duty." 

These words revived the courage of the brave High- 
landers, and inspired them to put forth their mightiest 
energies. With wonderful valor they met the tide of 
battle, and turned it into a victory. 

Christ is living, not dead. From heaven He watches 
our conflict with sin and Satan. 

"How many brothers have you?" asked a gentleman 
of a little boy. 



184 Story o* Jesi 

"Three, sir, and one in heaven. " 

"No, my son," said his mother, "you have no brother 
in heaven." 

But the lad said : "Did you not tell me that God was 
my Father, and that Jesus Christ is the Son of God? 
Then He must be my Brother in heaven." 

The boy had caught a glimpse of the wonderful truth 
of a living, loving Jesus, our Elder Brother. 

One of Jesus' last words was, "Preach the gospel." 
And one way to do it is to tell others about Jesus. 

One Christmas morning, in a dark, little attic in 
New York City, a young girl lay dying. 

A few years before she had run away from -her beau- 
tiful home in a fit of passion. 

There were days of gayety and excitement; then 
months of heart-breaking sorrow and awful remorse, and 
now pitiless disease. 

A few times she had been in a mission, and heard a 
lady tell that Christ could save to the uttermost, but 
she could not believe it meant one so low as she. 

As she lay there all alone that Christmas morning, 
with her puny baby in her arms, crying or moaning, no 
words can describe her wretchedness. 

Presently the one who had spoken the cheering words 
at the mission came into the room, and stood beside her. 

A look of joy came into the white, shrunken face, as 
and said, 

"O, I 'm glad you Ve come ; I Ve seen you before. 



Tm-: Ascension. 185 

I have n't much time, and O, I want to ask you a qiu 
tion. Is it all true what you Ye said, that Jesus Christ 
can save to the uttermost? And does that mean every- 
body?" 

"O, yes," promptly came the answer, as her little hand 
was tenderly pressed ; "it 's all true, and He died to 
save you/ 1 

"But," she interrupted, "is it really so, He would 
be glad to save me ?" 

O, how earnest was the gaze she fastened on the 
face bending over her, as again she said : 

"What ! glad, did yo<u say? O, you do n't know what 
a wretched outcast I am — Glad to save me!" she mur- 
mured softly, trying to take it all in. 

"Dear child," the answer came, "I mean every word 
of it, not only willing, but glad indeed to save you." 

After a few moments of silent struggling, the poor, 
sick girl opened her eyes, and by the changed expression 
of her face one could see the result of these words of love. 

With unnatural strength, she raised her little baby, 
and, holding it in front of her face', said, 

"Baby, do you hear that? It is so; Jesus can save 
your mother! and baby, He said He would be glad to 
do it!" 

Then, with a sweet smile of trust, she added, 

"As God is a Father to the orphan, I give you to Him 
to be cared for, little one." 

Then laying the baby down with a tired sigh, she 
passed away. 



186 Story of Jesus. 

But for hours a peculiar smile of final victory over 
sin made her face beautiful though it was so thin and 
white. 

Jesus is coming again, coming literally, visibly, per- 
sonally, certainly. 

He went away promising power. He will come again 
with power. 

He went away in a cloud. He will come again in 
a cloud. 

He went away into heaven. He is coming again 
from heaven. 

He went from the mount called Olivet. He is com- 
ing to the Mount of Olives. 

He went away blessing. He is coming again to 
crown. 

Only His chosen saw Him go ; only His chosen will 
see Him return. 

Since He went away, Stephen has seen Him, and 
Saul and John. 

And I shall see Him, for the promise with which He 
awakened me one morning was, 

'Thine eyes shall see the King in His beauty." 

And you may see Him ; if you will love Him, look 
fur Him. 









• 








w 






p: 


f**. ^^^wk 


■riyldJPfcl mi 








» *• 




* 


vSf M 




« 


' 




% A 
1 * 




1 


s^ifi^ 1 




*^tai ^ - 


/I 




• 








H mm 




H 


• 

V 


* 














, . < 




L 






si « '< 




•• 
» 






Wfcft s H**w t 








m*m*ikm\\ m 


1 Md 


-5J 



5 

3 



Chapter XVII. 
PETER IN PRISON. 

THERE are those who have seen Jesus since He 
went away to His Father's throne. 

The first one who saw Him after His ascension was 
Stephen, the first Christian martyr. 

Luke tells us that one day, after Stephen had preached 
a wonderful sermon, the. people were cut to the heart, 
and they gnashed on him with their teeth. But 'he being 
full of the Holy Spirit, looked up steadfastly into heaven, 
and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing on the 
right hand of God, and said, 

"Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of 
man standing on the right hand of God." 

Then the people cried out with a loud voice, and 
stopped their ears, and ran upon him with one accord, 
and cast him out of the city and stoned him : and the wit- 
nesses laid down their clothes at a young man's feet 
whose name was Saul. 

And they stoned Stephen, calling upon God, and say- 
ing, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit." 

And he kneeled down and cried with a loud voice, 
"Lord, lay not this sin to their charge." 

And when he had said this he fell asleep. (Acts vii, 

54-60.) 

187 



i88 Story or JESUS. 

The second one who saw Jesus after His ascension 
was the very Saul who held Stephen's garments while 
he w r as being stoned, and for whom Stephen prayed. 

This is the story : 

And Saul yet breathing out threatening and slaughter 
against the disciples of the Lord, went unto the high 
priest, and desired of him letters to Damascus to the 
synagogues, that if he found any who worshiped Jesus, 
whether they were men or women, he might bring them 
bound to Jerusalem. 

And as he journeyed he came near Damascus, and 
suddenly there s'hined round about him a light from 
heaven : and he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying 
unto him, 

"Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou Me?" 

And he said, "Who art Thou, Lord?" 

And the Lord said, "I am Jesus whom thou perse- 
cutest : it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks." 

And he trembling and astonished, said, 

"Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do?" 

And the Lord said unto him, 

"Arise and go into the city, and it shall be told thee 
what thou shalt do." 

And the men which journeyed with him stood speech- 
less hearing a voice but seeing no man. 

And Saul arose from the earth : and when his eyes 
were opened, he saw no man : but they led him by the 
hand and brought him to Damascus. (Acts ix, 1-8.) 



Peter ra Prison. 189 

And he was no longer a persecutor of the saints, but 
a believer in Jesus. 

The third one who saw Jesus after His ascension 
was John, the beloved disciple, when he was in prison 
because he was faithful in preaching the Word of God. 

One Lord's-day in the prison Jesus revealed Him- 
self, and John fell at His feet so frightened that he 
fainted away. 

Jesus laid His hand on him, and revived him, and 
said, 

"Fear not, I am the first and the last; I am He that 
liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for ever- 
more/' (Rev. i, 17, 18.) 

Though not many have seen Jesus since He went 
away, a great multitude have been blessed and pro- 
tected. Among these is Peter, whose name is always 
first in every list of the twelve apostles. 

Herod the king put James the apostle to death, and 
had Peter arrested, and put in prison in Jerusalem, in- 
tending to have him put to death the next day. 

But that night a little band of good men and women 
prayed for Peter, and he lay down to sleep in the prison 
between the two Roman soldiers to whom he was 
chained. 

The prison gates and the guards kept all his earthly 
friends from him, but in answer to their prayers, the 
angel of the Lord came and stood by him, and his cell 
was as light as day. 



190 Story of Jesus. 

But so soundly was he sleeping that he did not waken 
until the angel smote him on the side, and said, 
"Gird thyself and bind on thy sandals." 
When Peter had done this, the angel said, 
"Cast thy garment about thee, and follow me." 
And Peter went out, following the angel, and could 
not understand it, but thought he must be dreaming. 

They walked out of the wards of the prison, and 
when they came to the iron gate that led to the city, it 
opened of its own accord, and they went out and passed 
through one street, and then the angel left him to go 
alone. 

The light did not waken Peter's keeper, nor the 
sound of the chains, nor the opening of the doors, nor 
the voice of the angel, so he was perfectly safe ; they could 
not follow him. 

Then Peter came to himself, and said, 
"I know of a surety, that the Lord sent His angel, 
and hath delivered me out of the hand of Herod, and 
from all the expectation of the people of the Jews." 

Then he walked on, thinking, perhaps, about his 
dreadful danger, and his great deliverance, and what he 
should do to show his gratitude to God. 

Presently he came to the house of Mary, the mother 
of John Mark, who wrote the second Gospel. The Holy 
Spirit led him to this house, because here his friends 
were gathered to pray for him. 

Peter knocked at the door. A young girl named 



Pktkk tx Prison. 191 

Rhoda went to the door, and listened, wondering who 
it could be at that time of night. Was it an officer come 
to arrest them and take them to prison too? 

Then Peter spoke, and Rhoda knew his voice, for 
she had heard him preach and pray. But instead of 
opening the gate to let him in, she was so delighted that 
she ran back to the others to tell them that he was 
there. 

They could not believe it at first that God really had 
heard their prayer, and wrought a miracle, and taken 
Peter out of prison. 

But Peter kept on knocking, and presently they let 
him in, and were so astonished that they began to ask 
him all sorts of questions. 

He beckoned to them with his hand to hold their 
peace, and then he told them all about his beautiful 
deliverance by the angel, and asked them to tell the 
other disciples. Then he went away to another city so 
that Herod could not arrest him again. 

There are a few words in one psalm that David wrote 
which I feel almost sure that Peter remembered. 

"The angel of the Lord encampeth round about them 
that fear Him, and delivereth them." (Ps. xxxiv, 7.) 

Only yesterday I learned how a friend of mine went, 
one hot summer day, with one of her helpers up into 
her small garret, and was locked in and could not get 
out. 

It was away up in the top of the house where no 



192 Story of JESUS. 

sound could possibly reach the people below. They 
screamed and pounded and stamped until, at last, al- 
most overcome with the heat, they grew perfectly quiet, 
and my friend claimed God's promise of protection and 
deliverance. 

Suddenly the door opened of its own accord, and they 
went down to tell the household how God had delivered 
them something as he did Peter. 

History relates how, many years ago in France, dur- 
ing the French Inquistion, a little boy was arrested and 
put to torture because he would not reveal the hiding- 
place of his father. 

The thumbscrews, those instruments of awful torture, 
were applied, but the child was firm. 

Then they put lighted matches between his fingers. 

The heroic boy gave no sign of pain, only his lips 
moved in prayer. His tormentors, at length, awe-struck 
by the child's fortitude, let him go. 

His friends, who had been standing beside him in 
helpless agony, asked, "Was it not terrible to bear?" 

He looked up at them with a bright smile, and said, 

"It was indeed hard to bear, but at the worst of it a 
tall angel stood beside me, and pointed his finger up to 
heaven, and all the pain left me." 

One day in Sunday-school I was telling this true 
story to a class of boys. One bright little boy said, 

"The Lord never sent an angel to me when I was 
in trouble. " 







^^Bp^fe^' 


XT' ^ 
( ** 


few fe^;:^«" : £ : v^ v :: 

n| I 






hhhpt^ 


N 






^ V^Vk Al' 




ji^yUB m~, "**■*»#> j 






H^V*V; ^fit* 




1 






iTJa C"W s ^^^B 




In : ''** i 




p Jk^l 




!\_^V^^BB 






jBk ^m . „ 1 


Ws 1 


•AC'S 






. ,._.. *"* 




-^ 


^l^k 









For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth 
came by Jesus Christ.— John i t \7. 



PETER IN Prison. 

"Were your father and mother ever put in prison 
because they loved Jesus ?" I asked. 

"No." 

"Did you ever have thumbscrews pull your fingers 
all out of joint ?" 

"No." 

"Did you ever have lighted matches put between your 
fingers ?" 

"No, but I had the mumps once." 

"What did you do?" 

"They hurt me, and I prayed to the Lord, and the 
next day I could eat." 

"Perhaps the Lord sent His angel to take the pain 
away." 

"I guess He did ; I guess he came in the night when 
I could n't see him." 

No doubt the angels do come and protect us many 
times when we do not see them and do not know it. 

The Bible says that the angels are ministering spirits 
sent to minister to them who shall be heirs of salvation. 
(Heb. i, 14.) 

When I was a little girl the children used to sing, 
"I want to be an angel;" but they do- not sing it now, 
for we have learned that to be born again and be a child 
of God is better than to be an angel. 

But we can all imitate Jesus and the angels in doing 
good to others. 

A poor, tired mother took her three little children 
13 



r 94 Sr< >ry of Jksus. 

into a parlor-car by mistake, and was rudely driven into 
another car in a way that brought smiles to some faces, 
but a great pity into the tender heart of one of the 
passengers. 

This was a little boy, who showed his sympathy by 
taking some fruit and luncheon to the frightened little 
group in the common car. 

So sweet and gentle was his ministry, that one of the 
children, watching as he went back to the parlor-car, 
said, "Was he an angel, mamma?" 

"No, dear; but he was doing an angel's work, bless 
him!" said the mother. 

Dear children, let us remember the words of the 
mother, and look every day for bits of "angel's work" 
to make other people happy. Let us pray, day by day : 
Heavenly Father, make me Thine own true, good 
child. Help me to be like Jesus and the angels. Help 
me every day to do something that will make the world 
better and brighter. 



A Beautifully Bound Companion to 
'• Bible Morning Glories." 



BIBLE B'S 

FOR BEAUTIFUL LIVING 

By ABBIE C. MORROW, 

Editor of the S. S. Lesson Illustrator, and one of the 
Editors of Arnold's Practical Commentary. 



h*?^ BIBLE 




P^ 



These are the "Bible B's" it Contains 



SAVED 

FAITHFUL 

CHEERFUL 

STRONG 

OBEDIENT 

KIND 

CONTENT 

A LIGHT 

AFFECTIONATE 

SOBER 



B WITNESSES 
JOYFUL 
WATCHFUL 
COURTEOUS 
THANKFUL 
PATIENT 
HEALTHY 
TRUE 
STEADFAST 



B PITIFUL 
TRANSFORMED 
A BLESSING 
SUBJECT 
READY 
MINDFUL 
QUIET 
DILIGENT 
FOLLOWERS 
PERFECT 



A BOOK FOR CHILDREN 2VERYWHERE. 

PRICE, 75 CENTS, POST-PAID. 



WHAT THE PRESS SAYS. 

The Christian Upi^ook: "Each *B' is aptly illustrated, 
and the whole volume is full of practical truth." 

Central Christian Advocate : " . . . She arrays helpful 
passages from the Word, and illuminates them with apt inci- 
dents and wmolesome reflections." 

Methodist Protestant: "One of the best and most 
helpful books for young readers we have ever seen." 



M. W. KNAPP, Revivalist Office, Cincinnati, Ohia 

BY THE SAME AUTHOR. 

SWEET SMELLING MYRRH. (GUYON.) 60c. 

WORK OF FAITH. (MXJLLER.) 5Q</ 



"A pretty and most helpful book for a Christian Child." 



...BIBLE... 
MORNING GLORIES 

By ABBIE C. MORROW, 

Editor of the 5. 5. Lesson Illustrator, and one of 
the Editors of the Practical Commentary. 




Adapted to good work in many fields, as — 

1. A Book for Children.— It contains thirty-one chapters, one for every 
day in the month ; with a Morning Glory for every morning, so associated 
with a tiny text of Scripture that the child reading it will be pleased and 
profited. 

2. A Book for Sunday-school Teachers. — Here they will learn how to 
adapt the truth to the child nind, find illustrations of the principal doc- 
trines of faith, and hints as to how to win the children for Jesus. 

3. A Book for Ministers.— £ach chapter is a beautiful five-minute ser- 
mon to children, which any minister is free to use. 

4. A Book for Leaders of Children's Meetings.— Each chapter contains from 
two to ten vivid illustrations of some Bible text, and of some subject of 
interest to the little ones. 

5. A Book for the Fireside.— With this the mother can teach her children 
how to mark their Bibles. It will shorten the Sunday afternoons and 
brighten the rainy days. 

6. A Book for Bible Lovers.— It contains many Scripture references 
grouped around a single text or subject. 

7. A Book for Daily Devotion.— Any one reading a chapter every day, and 
looking up the references, will learn better how to live and love like oar 
Lord. 

Price, Post-paid, 75 Cts. Library Edition, 20 Cts. 

This is an excellent Book for agents. It sells quickly, and will literally 

introduce itself. Write us for terms, giving your address, 

and we will promptly answer. We want the 

Book so!d EVERYWHERE. 



M. W. KNAPP, Reviva'ist Office, Cincinnati, Ohio. 



FOOD FOR LAMBS: 

Or, LEADING CHILDREN TO CHRIST. 

A Series of Lessons Illustrated by Starlet and Incidents, 
tor the Use of Parents and Teachers in Bringing 

Children to Christ, and Preparing Them 
For Church Membership. 

BY REV. A. M. HILLS, 

Author of "Life avd Labors of Mary A. U r oodbridge, n 

"Holiness and Power," "Pentecostal Lr'^hl," and 

"The Whosoever Will Gospel." 

TABLE OF CONTENTS.— Dedication, Preface, Ta- 
ble op Contents, Introduction. 

Chapters I, II, III, IV —Why God Calls Little Chil- 
dren Early. V. — First Condition of Salvation— Repent- 
ance VI.— TheSecond Faith. VII.— The Third Surren- 
der of Self to God's Service. VIII.— Coming to Christ. 
IX.— Ten Evidences of Conversion. X.— Prayer. XI.- 

Bible. XII.— Obedience. XIII— 
A Life of Love. XIV. —A Life 
of Service. XV. —Joining the 
Church. XVI.— Religion Made 
Easy by the Holy Spirit. XVII. 
—The River of Death. 

ILLUSTRATIONS. --The Good 
Shepherd— Frontispiece. Por- 
trait op Author. The Virgin 
Mary, — Murillo. The Adora- 
tion OP THE SHEPHERDS,-- Ctfr- 

reggio. Sistine Madonna.— Ra- 
phael. The Ideal Portrait op 
Christ. Christ In the Home. 
The Transfiguration, — Ra- 
phael. The Last Supper,— Le- 
onardo da Vinci. The Descent 
from the Gb.038, —Rubens. Res- 
urrection. Christian Mar- 
tyrs. Wrecked or Rescued— 
Which?— M. W. Knapp. 

The Book for Holiday s s Blrthdays and all Days* 

Inter-Denominational Endorsement. 

The Advance. — * 'Language is simple and easily 
comprehended. Commendable." 

The Evangelical. — "The book shonld be in every 
home and Sunday-school in the land." 

The Christian Guide. — "It is an artistic gem." 

Cumberland Presbyterian. — "The idea and plan 
of the work are highly commendable." 

Lutheran Observer. — * 'Highly adapted to inter- 
est, impress and instruct children and lead them 
to Christ." 

Herald of Gospel Liberty. — "It will be a great 
factor in training children." 

Michigan Christian Advocate. — "Clever, simple, 
attractive and tender." 

Pittsburg Christian Advocate. — "It teaches by 
thrilling illustrations and explains how to come 
to Christ." 

The Evangelical. — "The author has led thou- 
sands of children and young people to Christ." 

PRICE. SOOTS. 

AGENTS WANTED EVERYWHERE 




THE REVIVALIST. 

A FULL SALTATION JOURNAL, 

Published WEEKLY in the interest of 

THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN. 

*REE FROM QUESTIONABLE ADVERTISEMENTS. 

Pentecostal. Missionary. 

Loyal. Evangelical* 

"In essentials, unity; in non-essentials, liberty; in aS 
things, charity." 

GOD, WHOM WE SERVE, - Proprietor. 

M. W. KNAPP, -.--••• Editor. 
SETK C. BEES, * - • Associate. 

W. N. HIRST, • Book Department. 

BYRON J. REES, - Review Editor. 

W. B. OODBEY, Sunday-school and Question Drawer. 
MRS. M. W. KNAPP, Young People's Department. 

OBJECT. 

To promote deep spirituality among all believers. 

To magnify the New Testament standard of piety and 
doctrine, especially emphasizing Scriptural Regeneratloi 
for sinners and the Baptism with the Holy Ghost for all of 
God's children. 

To help spread the Gospel of Bible Holiness over "all 
the world." 

To oppose the formality, worldliness and ecclesiastical 
usurpation which threaten the very life of the believer. 

To proclaim the freedom of individual conscience fft 
all matters not sinful. 

By God's grace wr hope to make it one of TBS BEST 
PAPERS ISSUED. 

PRICE, SLOft PER YEAR. 
ty Agents wanted everywhere. 
S. W. KNAPP, Publisher, ~ « Oincfamati, OW* 



Christ Crowned 
s Within. 



Revised Edition. 18,000 Issued. 202 pp. Price, 75c, 



CONTENTS: Christ Crowned Within— The Soul's Desire— 
The Object of Man's Creation — Promised — The Object of 
His Enthronement — The Great Need of the Church — Re- 
sults of His Enthronement — Purity — A Divine Fulness — 
Perfect Love — Holiness — Growth and Fruit — Power and 
Prosperity — A Stable Experience and Spiritual Enlighten- 
ment — Assurance and Humility — Peace, Joy, and Divine 
Guidance — False Fear Banished — Religion Made Easy — 
Heaven on Earth — Heaven Above — When and How At- 
tained — How Retained — Autographs for the King's 
Children. 

WHAT IS SAID OF IT. 

The following are a few of the many kind words which the 

book has received from various classes of Christian workers of 

different denominations : 

Stimulating.— It will doubtless be useful in stimulating the reader to 
a higher life.— Northwestern Advocate. 

Original.— The method is original, the style is attractive, and the 
spirit most delightful. — Christian Witness. 

Scriptural.— It is clear, Scriptural, and warm with the pulsations of 
divine life. — Rev. W. Taylor. 

Glowing. — The evangelistic fire of the author glows on every page. — 
Rev. F. L. McCoy. 

Golden. — It is one of the best books ever printed. It is worth its 
weight in gold. — The Word and Way. 

Striking.— "Christ Crowned Within " is the title of a most interesting 
and useful book. The type is clear ; the chapters short and Scriptural ; 
exegesis clear, striking, and in perfect harmony with inspired truth. The 
book deserves a wide circulation. We heartily commend it to the public— 
Methodist Standard. 

A Breeze from Heaven. — We have the delightful book kindly sent 
us by the publishers, and it is a mine of soul-wealth to us, a garden of 
spices, a breeze from heaven.— Hubbard Times, Hubbard, Iowa. 

Baptist Praise.— I can heartily commend it for its originality, sim- 
plicity, and sweetness. "Christ Crowned Within." I am conscious that 
He is so crowned to-day. — Rev. Edgar Levy. 

Sell at Sight.— I sold two of them before I got home. — J. W. Robins, 
Kansas. 

Filled with the Spirit.— I will take great pleasure in placing "Christ 
Crowned Within " into the hands of others, feeling sure that it will prove 
a blessing, as it is filled with the Holy Spirit.— L McNair, Madison, Fla. 



UNSURPASSED. 

The unprecedented popularity of " Tears and Tri- 
umphs," and " Tears and Triumphs No. 2, "resulting 
in a sale of MORE THAN 200,000, has led to 

Tears and Triumphs, 

Combined and Abridged.; 

Containing the CREAM OF BOTH, with duplicates omitted, 
— also a few other pieces dropped. It makes a book of 
NEARLY 400 SONGS, some of which have had a large sale 
as sheet music. Many of these songs stir the soul to its 
depths, brings tears to the eyes, and a shout from the 
heart. 

IT IS A VICTORIOUS SOUL- WINNING SONG BOOK. 

Numbers 12, 21, 32, 48, 60, 76, 89, 91, 95, 117, 135, 151, 
221, 245, 248 are sufficient to capture any lover of music. 

It has gone into every State in the Union, and is adapted 
to all occasions where Sacred Song is used. It is "Pente- 
costal, Loyal, Evangelical. M 

PRICES, DELIVERED: 

No. 1.— Board, 30c; per doz., $3.00. Muslin, 25c; doz., $2.60. 

Manilla, 20c; doz. $2.00. 

No. 2.— Board, 25c; per doz., $2.80. Mnslin, 20c; doz. $2.25. 

COMBINED.— Board, 35c; per doz., $4.00. Mnslin, 30c; doz., 

$3.40. 

Published in round notes and shapes. Always state 
choice. We can furnish them in any quantity, from one 
copy to thousands. Evangelists and Agents wanted at once 
to sell them at liberal discounts. Order it If not sat* 
isfactory, will refund your money. 

ORDER OF THIS OFFICE. 



Jan - 26 1901 



JAN 2 190! 



Deacidified using the Bookkeeper process 
Neutralizing agent: Magnesium Oxide 
Treatment Date: July 2005 

PreservationTechnologies 

A WORLD LEADER IN PAPER PRESERVATION 

in n 

erry Townsh 



&T 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



i ii ii 



014 226 602 7 




